[NGC 253]

One beautifully clear night this spring, I was out soaking up some photons to compensate for a star-deprived winter. I had just finished my binocular Messier list, and was ready to start a new observing program. I had a copy of the Binocular Deep-Sky List, one of the many new observing clubs the Astronomical League has come out with in the last few years. The Binoc DS (as I will abbreviate it) consists of 60 of the brightest deep-sky objects that are *not* on the Messier list. As I started to try to find some objects on this list, I found that only one was high in the sky - Mel 111, the Coma cluster. To my disappointment, all the rest were either low in the sky or not up at all.

I took a closer look at the list, and noticed that there were no objects - again, with the exception of the Coma cluster - that had a right ascension between 8h 20m and 17h 45m - a huge gap in the sky. But if I can't see them now, in the spring - hmmm... that means I must be able to see almost all of them in the fall... in fact.... hmmm.... probably in a single night.... WHOA! a new marathon!

A fall marathon, to complement the Messier marathon in the spring. A binocular marathon, to complement the Messier, where many faint objects can benefit from a telescope (although, as I have discovered, it *is* possible to do the whole Messier list with binoculars). The faintest object on the Binoc DS list is 8.7, and only 4 of 60 are 8 or fainter - contrast with the Messier list, where 51 out of 110 are 8 or fainter. Median size is 20 min. This should be easy!

Well, the next cloudy night I sat down with my planetarium software and found that it would, indeed, work out. New Moon in September this year is on the evening of the 9th, so I set the date for the 11th-12th of September (Saturday night). In general, the marathon should be possible late August through early September.

Another name for this marathon would be the 'Tour de Milky Way' (what's Milky Way in French?) because the objects lie along the Milky Way, with three exceptions - the Coma cluster, already mentioned; NGC 253, an 8 magnitude galaxy in Sculptor; and NGC 2403, an 8.4 magnitude galaxy in Camelopardalis. I have prepared a set of five maps using Voyager II, which show all the objects on the list, which I then marked with triangles. The three exceptions are marked on the index map. I also plotted all other deep-sky objects down to magnitude 7, for two reasons: some are close to our targets, so you need to be aware and careful that you are observing the object you think you are. For example, inside the pentagon of Auriga are a number of Messier clusters and other bright objects to mistake for NGC 1893 and NGC 1907. Also, if you have extra time, you can add some of these objects to your observing list. I have rearranged the objects on the list into a search order that should minimize searching time. I have also added a time control that gives 10 minutes per object, which should be plenty. If you get ahead by an hour or more, you might think about taking a nap.

As in the Messier marathon, there are a few objects on either end that you need to catch before they set (evening) or before the sky brightens too much (morning). These are the Coma cluster (again) which is fortunately far enough north and bright enough to see on the northwest horizon at about 8:20 pm; then a quick shift to south and NGC 6520 in Sagittarius, still 18 deg. high. In the morning, NGC 2571 in Puppis is the difficulty, reaching 8 deg. altitude only by 6:10 am, already well into morning twilight.

Well, any takers?

Mark Miller
Kalamazoo Astronomical Society

Order

Catalog

R.A.

Dec.

Mag

Type

Size

Con

Urn

SA

control

Notes

1

Mel 111

12h 25m

26° 0'

1.8

OC

275'

Com

148

7

2020

Coma Star Cluster

2

NGC 6520

18h 3.4m

-27° 54'

7.6

OC

6'

Sgr

339

22

2030

---

3

NGC 6716

18h 54.6m

-19° 53'

7.5

OC

6'

Sgr

340

15

2040

Twilight Ends

4

IC 4665

17h 46.3m

5° 43'

4.2

OC

70'

Oph

203

15

2050

---

5

NGC 6633

18h 27.7m

6° 34'

4.6

OC

20'

Oph

205

15

2100

---

6

IC 4756

18h 39m

5° 27'

4.6

OC

40'

Ser

205

15

2110

---

7

NGC 6709

18h 51.5m

10° 21'

6.7

OC

13'

Aql

205

15

2120

---

8

NGC 6934

20h 34.2m

7° 24'

8.7

GC

5.9'

Del

209

16

2130

---

9

Cr 399

19h 25.4m

20° 11'

3.6

OC

60'

Vul

161

8

2140

The Coathanger

10

NGC 6823

19h 43.1m

23° 18'

7.1

OC

12'

Vul

162

8

2150

---

11

NGC 6940

20h 34.6m

28° 18'

6.3

OC

31'

Vul

120

9

2200

---

12

NGC 6910

20h 23.1m

40° 47'

7.4

OC

7'

Cyg

84

9

2210

---

13

NGC 6819

19h 41.3m

40° 11'

7.3

OC

5'

Cyg

84

8

2220

---

14

NGC 7063

21h 24.4m

36° 30'

7.0

OC

7'

Cyg

121

9

2230

---

15

NGC 7209

22h 5.2m

46° 30'

7.7

OC

25'

Lac

87

9

2240

---

16

NGC 7243

22h 15.3m

49° 53'

6.4

OC

21'

Lac

57

9

2250

---

17

NGC 7235

22h 12.6m

57° 17'

7.7

OC

4'

Cep

57

3

2300

---

18

NGC 7160

21h 53.7m

62° 36'

6.1

OC

7'

Cep

33

3

2310

---

19

NGC 7789

23h 57m

56° 44'

6.7

OC

15'

Cas

59

3

2320

---

20

NGC 129

0h 29.9m

60° 14'

6.5

OC

21'

Cas

15

1

2330

---

21

NGC 457

1h 19.1m

58° 20'

6.4

OC

13'

Cas

36

1

2340

---

22

NGC 663

1h 46m

61° 15'

7.1

OC

16'

Cas

16

1

2350

---

23

Cr 463

1h 48.4m

71° 57'

5.7

OC

36'

Cas

17

1

0

---

24

NGC 752

1h 57.8m

37° 41'

5.7

OC

50'

And

92

4

10

---

25

Tr 2

2h 37.3m

55° 59'

5.9

OC

20'

Per

38

1

20

---

26

NGC 884

2h 22.4m

57° 7'

6.1

OC

29'

Per

37

1

30

---

27

NGC 869

2h 19m

57° 9'

5.3

OC

29'

Per

37

1

40

---

28

Stock 2

2h 15m

59° 16'

4.4

OC

60'

Cas

37

1

50

---

29

Mark 6

2h 29.6m

60° 39'

7.1

OC

4.5'

Cas

17

1

100

---

30

Mel 15

2h 32.7m

61° 27'

6.5

OC

21'

Cas

17

1

110

---

31

Stock 23

3h 16m

60° 2'

6.2

OC

15'

Cam

38

1

120

---

32

Tr 3

3h 11.8m

63° 15'

7.0

OC

23'

Cas

18

1

130

---

33

Kemble 1

3h 58m

63° 6'

4.0

AS

180'

Cam

18

1

140

3° chain of stars

34

Mel 20

3h 22m

49° 0'

1.2

OC

185'

Per

38

4

150

Perseus OB Association

35

NGC 1528

4h 15.4m

51° 14'

6.4

OC

23'

Per

39

1

200

---

36

NGC 1582

4h 32m

43° 51'

7.0

OC

37'

Per

65

5

210

---

37

NGC 1342

3h 31.6m

37° 20'

6.7

OC

14'

Per

94

4

220

---

38

NGC 253

0h 47.6m

-25° 17'

8.0

GAL

25'

Scl

306

18

230

Sculptor Galaxy

39

Mel 25

4h 27m

16° 0'

0.5

OC

330'

Tau

133

11

240

Hyades

40

NGC 1647

4h 46m

19° 4'

6.4

OC

45'

Tau

134

11

250

---

41

NGC 1746

5h 3.6m

23° 49'

6.1

OC

42'

Tau

134

5

300

---

42

NGC 1893

5h 22.7m

33° 24'

7.5

OC

11'

Aur

97

5

310

---

43

NGC 1907

5h 28m

35° 19'

8.2

OC

6'

Aur

97

5

320

---

44

NGC 2281

6h 49.3m

41° 4'

5.4

OC

14'

Aur

68

5

330

---

45

NGC 2403

7h 36.9m

65° 36'

8.4

GA

18'

Cam

21

1

340

---

46

NGC 1662

4h 48.5m

10° 56'

6.4

OC

20'

Ori

179

1

350

---

47

NGC 1807

5h 10.7m

16° 32'

7.0

OC

17'

Tau

135

11

400

---

48

NGC 1817

5h 12.1m

16° 42'

7.7

OC

15'

Tau

135

11

410

---

49

NGC 2169

6h 8.4m

13° 57'

5.9

OC

6'

Ori

182

11

420

---

50

NGC 2264

6h 41.1m

9° 53'

3.9

OC

20'

Mon

183

11

430

---

51

NGC 2251

6h 34.7m

8° 22'

7.3

OC

10'

Mon

182

11

440

---

52

NGC 2244

6h 32.4m

4° 52'

4.8

OC

23'

Mon

227

11

450

---

53

NGC 2301

6h 51.8m

0° 28'

6.0

OC

12'

Mon

228

11

500

---

54

NGC 2232

6h 26.6m

-4° 45'

3.9

OC

29'

Mon

227

11

510

---

55

NGC 1981

5h 35.2m

-4° 26'

4.2

OC

25'

Ori

225

11

520

---

56

NGC 2343

7h 8.3m

-10° 39'

6.7

OC

6'

Mon

273

12

530

twilight begins

57

NGC 2360

7h 17.8m

-15° 37'

7.2

OC

12'

CMa

274

12

540

---

58

NGC 2539

8h 10.7m

-12° 50'

6.5

OC

21'

Pup

275

12

550

---

59

NGC 2527

8h 2.5m

-28° 11'

6.5

OC

22'

Pup

320

20

600

---

60

NGC 2571

8h 18.9m

-29° 44'

7.0

OC

13'

Pup

362

20

610

---

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

av

6.1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

max

8.7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

min

0.5