Everyone, members and non-members, please join us at 7 PM for our regular monthly meeting, 6 PM if you are going to join us for the Supper Bowl.
Weather permitting, we’ll forego presentations and do a Messier Marathon in the observing field. What exactly is a Messier Marathon you ask? Why it is where you start as soon as it is dark enough and attempt to see as many Messier List objects as you can in one long marathon. You go as long as you want but it will take all night to see all 110 objects.
Bring your non-goto scope if you want or if you prefer use the 14″ dob or 6″ refractor with others as a team. We might even have large binoculars available. The rules are simple, no goto. Other than that, you are not restricted to a single scope either. See the objects, log the objects. At the end someone gets bragging rights.
Here is a useful planner: http://calgary.rasc.ca/darksky/messierplanner.htm
And here are useful finder charts with superimposed Telrad circles: http://www.custerobservatory.org/docs/messier2.pdf
Bring a sleeping bag if you want to make an all nighter out of it, there will be time for a nap in the wee hours as you wait for the final objects to rise.
As always, meetings of the Central Arkansas Astronomical Society are open to the public.
Supper Bowl price will be $6 each.
