Messier Marathon Images taken on 1 April 2011

Charles Messier was an 18th century French astronomer who was looking for comets.  He made a list of objects in the sky that were NOT comets so as to avoid them.  They are some of the brightest and most interesting objects in the night sky.  His 4-inch telescope did not reveal the details of these objects so he just saw them as fuzzy things that looked similar to comets...

There is one time of the year that from dusk to dawn, it is possible to see all 110 Messier objects by staying up all night.  That time coincides with the new moon (so it doesn't wash out the sky) and late March or early April depending on the day of the new moon.

This year, a challenge was issued by the Saguaro Astronomy Club and communicated to the East Valley Astronomy Club to attempt to photograph all 110 objects in one night.  I spent about three weeks making modifications to HandyAvi to automate the process.  On 1 April, 2011, I achieved the results shown below.  All objects were imaged except M74 which was on the edge of my frame due to atmospheric refraction which I had not accounted for and M27 due to an unfortunate right-ascension type-o in my script.  More technical details are given down below the thumbnail images shown here.

Click any thumbnail image below to see a larger image.
M1.jpg
M1.jpg
Crab Nebula
M2.jpg
M2.jpg
Globular Cluster
M3.jpg
M3.jpg
Globular Cluster
M4.jpg
M4.jpg
Globular Cluster
M5.jpg
M5.jpg
Globular Cluster
M6.jpg
M6.jpg
Open Cluster
M7.jpg
M7.jpg
Open Cluster
M8.jpg
M8.jpg
Lagoon Nebula
M9.jpg
M9.jpg
Globular Cluster
M10.jpg
M10.jpg
Globular Cluster
M11.jpg
M11.jpg
Open Cluster
M12.jpg
M12.jpg
Globular Cluster
M13.jpg
M13.jpg
Globular Cluster
M14.jpg
M14.jpg
Globular Cluster
M15.jpg
M15.jpg
Globular Cluster
M16.jpg
M16.jpg
Eagle Nebula
M17.jpg
M17.jpg
Swan Nebula
M18.jpg
M18.jpg
Open Clusster
M19.jpg
M19.jpg
Globular Cluster
M20.jpg
M20.jpg
Trifid Nebula
M21.jpg
M21.jpg
Open Cluster
M22.jpg
M22.jpg
Globular Cluster
M23.jpg
M23.jpg
Open Cluster
M24.jpg
M24.jpg
Open Cluster
M25.jpg
M25.jpg
Open Cluster
M26.jpg
M26.jpg
Open Cluster
M27.jpg
M27.jpg
This is not it...  R.A. type-o!
M28.jpg
M28.jpg
Globular Cluster
M29.jpg
M29.jpg
Open Cluster
M30.jpg
M30.jpg
Globular Cluster
M31.jpg
M31.jpg
Andromeda Galaxy
M32.jpg
M32.jpg
Dwarf Elliptical galaxy
M33.jpg
M33.jpg
Galaxy
M34.jpg
M34.jpg
Open Cluster
M35.jpg
M35.jpg
Open Cluster
M36.jpg
M36.jpg
Open Cluster
M37.jpg
M37.jpg
Open Cluster
M38.jpg
M38.jpg
Open Cluster
M39.jpg
M39.jpg
Open Cluster
M40.jpg
M40.jpg
Double Star
M41.jpg
M41.jpg
Open Cluster
M42.jpg
M42.jpg
Great Nebula in Orion
M43.jpg
M43.jpg
De Mairan's Nebula
M44.jpg
M44.jpg
Open Cluster
M45.jpg
M45.jpg
Open Cluster
M46.jpg
M46.jpg
Open Cluster
M47.jpg
M47.jpg
Open Cluster
M48.jpg
M48.jpg
Open Cluster
M49.jpg
M49.jpg
Elliptical galaxy
M50.jpg
M50.jpg
Open Cluster
M51.jpg
M51.jpg
Whirlpool Galaxy
M52.jpg
M52.jpg
Open Cluster
M53.jpg
M53.jpg
globular Cluster
M54.jpg
M54.jpg
Globular Cluster
M55.jpg
M55.jpg
Globular Cluster
M56.jpg
M56.jpg
Globular Cluster
M57.jpg
M57.jpg
Ring nebula
M58.jpg
M58.jpg
Barred Spiral Galaxy
M59.jpg
M59.jpg
Elliptical Galaxy
M60.jpg
M60.jpg
Elliptical Galaxy

M61.jpg
M61.jpg
Spiral Galaxy
M62.jpg
M62.jpg
Globular Cluster
M63.jpg
M63.jpg
Sunflower Galaxy
M64.jpg
M64.jpg
Black Eye Galaxy
M65.jpg
M65.jpg
Barred Spiral Galaxy
M66.jpg
M66.jpg
Barred Spiral Galaxy
M67.jpg
M67.jpg
Open Cluster
M68.jpg
M68.jpg
Globular Cluster
M69.jpg
M69.jpg
Globular Cluster
M70.jpg
M70.jpg
Globular Cluster
M71.jpg
M71.jpg
Globular Cluster
M72.jpg
M72.jpg
Globular Cluster
M73.jpg
M73.jpg
Asterism
M74.jpg
M74.jpg
Spiral Galaxy (Centered,
right edge of frame)
M75.jpg
M75.jpg
Globular Cluster
M76.jpg
M76.jpg
Little Dumbbell Nebula
M77.jpg
M77.jpg
Spiral galaxy
M78.jpg
M78.jpg
Diffuse Nebula
M79.jpg
M79.jpg
Globular Cluster
M80.jpg
M80.jpg
Globular Cluster
M81.jpg
M81.jpg
Spiral Galaxy
M82.jpg
M82.jpg
Cigar Galaxy
M83.jpg
M83.jpg
Southern Pinwheel Galaxy
M84.jpg
M84.jpg
Lenticular galaxy
M85.jpg
M85.jpg
Lenticular galaxy
M86.jpg
M86.jpg
Lenticular galaxy
M87.jpg
M87.jpg
Elliptical Galaxy
M88.jpg
M88.jpg
Spiral Galaxy
M89.jpg
M89.jpg
Elliptical galaxy
M90.jpg
M90.jpg
Spiral Galaxy
M91.jpg
M91.jpg
Barred Spiral galaxy
M92.jpg
M92.jpg
Globular Cluster
M93.jpg
M93.jpg
Open Cluster
M94.jpg
M94.jpg
Spiral Galaxy
M95.jpg
M95.jpg
Barred Spiral Galaxy
M96.jpg
M96.jpg
Spiral Galaxy
M97.jpg
M97.jpg
Owl Nebula
M98.jpg
M98.jpg
Spiral Galaxy
M99.jpg
M99.jpg
Spiral Galaxy
M100.jpg
M100.jpg
Spiral Galaxy
M101.jpg
M101.jpg
Pinwheel Galaxy
M102.jpg
M102.jpg
galaxy
M103.jpg
M103.jpg
Open Cluster
M104.jpg
M104.jpg
Sombrero galaxy
M105.jpg
M105.jpg
Elliptical Galaxy
M106.jpg
M106.jpg
Spiral Galaxy
M107.jpg
M107.jpg
Globular Cluster
M108.jpg
M108.jpg
Spiral Galaxy
M109.jpg
M109.jpg
Barred Spiral Galaxy
M110.jpg
M110.jpg
Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy

Additional information:

The "official" Messier Marathon this year was the night of 2/3 April.  It was very cloudy unlike the night before when I obtained the above images.  On 2 April I did correct for refraction for M74 and attempted shots but the clouds prevented obtaining images.   The problem with M74 this year was that it was very low in the sky at dusk.  The question is whether the camera could have teased the image of the M74 galaxy out of the twilight region near where the sun had set.  I think it could since the central point of light of the galaxy is about the same magnitude as the stars that I did manage to image in that region.  It would not have been a great image but I think it might have just barely shown the core of the galaxy.

I have shot M27 many times.  I did not realize there was a type-o in my data until I started putting this web page together.  RA should have been 19:59:36.  My table had 18:39:36.  A one hour error!  I will correct that for next year's attempt...

The other thing that caught me by surprise was the effect of atmospheric refraction on objects near the horizon that are rising or setting.  I was taking 70 second unguided exposures with a VERY well-aligned telescope.  During that time, the change in refraction as an object near the horizon moves toward or away from the horizon is enough to create star trails!  I don't really want to shoot shorter exposures because the image download time to the computer is 13.6 seconds!  A 70 second exposure actually takes 83.6 seconds and a 10 second exposure would take 23.6 seconds.  Not really a good trade-off but I might have to make an adjustment next year to compensate for this effect...  Back yard testing did not reveal this because I cannot see anything near either horizon due to trees, buildings, etc.
I was of course aware of the refraction but just didn't think it would be a factor in this project.

The above images are each comprised of three 70 second unguided images stacked and processed using Maxim DL.  I used Maxim DL Visual Basic Scripting to write a script to automate the image processing work!  Saved MANY hours of work...  Didn't know I could do that until this project!  Here is what that looks like:

Dim Path
Path = "C:\AAnew\ASTRONOMYSOFTWARE\_MessierMarathon\01Apr2011\"

for i = 1 To 110

Set doc1= CreateObject("MaxIm.Document")
Set doc2= CreateObject("MaxIm.Document")
Set doc3= CreateObject("MaxIm.Document")

doc1.OpenFile path + "M" + CStr(i) + "-70s-0001.fit"
doc1.Calibrate
doc1.ConvertColor 0, 100, 81, 100, 0, 1
doc1.FlattenBackground
doc1.SaveFile path + "b1.fit", 3, 0, 1

doc2.OpenFile path + "M" + CStr(i) + "-70s-0002.fit"
doc2.Calibrate
doc2.ConvertColor 0, 100, 81, 100, 0, 1
doc2.FlattenBackground
doc2.SaveFile path + "b2.fit", 3, 0, 1

doc3.OpenFile path + "M" + CStr(i) + "-70s-0003.fit"
doc3.Calibrate
doc3.ConvertColor 0, 100, 81, 100, 0, 1
doc3.FlattenBackground
doc3.SaveFile path + "b3.fit", 3, 0, 1

doc3.CombineImages 1, 0, 1, 0

doc3.AdjustSaturation 200
doc3.KernelFilter 6, 7
doc3.FlattenBackground

doc3.SaveFile path + "M" + CStr(i) + ".fit", 3, 0, 1

doc1.Close
doc2.Close
doc3.Close

Next

HandyAvi Modifications

Last year I did the Messier Marathon visually and had already decided to try to do it photographically this year when A. J. Crayon of the Saguaro Astronomy Club gave a short presentation at an East Valley Astronomy Club meeting and suggested that some of us try doing it photographically. 

I did some simple calculations that showed that one would have only 4 minutes and 37 seconds per object from start of Astronomical Twilight to end of Astronomical Twilight on 2 April 2011.  Usually takes me half an hour to set up a shot!  So I realized that if I were going to have any chance of pulling this off, it would require that the process be fully automated.  Fortunately, I am the author of HandyAvi so I can modify the source code to support such projects. 

I already had software in place to fully control the telescope.  I had to figure out how to make the camera take images.  Discovered that Maxim DL has a pretty complete set of routines that can be operated via Visual Basic scripts.  So I wrote code to have HandyAvi create Visual Basic script files on-the-fly, execute them and wait for their completion.

In order to get the objects centered in my camera's field, I found I had to implement precession calculations to bring the J-2000 Epoch data of the objects up to "J-Now", i.e., create new coordinates for each object taking the Earth's precession into consideration for the current date.  This is again done on-the-fly so that the file I use to control the process contains J-2000 coordinates for each Messier object.   I had not thought that refraction effects of the Earth's atmosphere would be significant but I see I now have to add a correction for that.  I created a HandyAvi Script that gave each object, its coordinates, the time at which to begin moving the telescope to the next object, the number of shots and the duration of the shots.  HandyAvi uses the script to supervise the entire operation.  The script is checked to make sure the times specified allow completion of the scheduled events, i.e., the distance in degrees from the previous object to the next object is calculated so that the time required to move the telescope can be calculated.  The telescope move time, the exposure times, and the image download times are calculated and checked to see that they do not run into the start time of the next object.  I also calculated the altitude of each object at the given time and re-ordered the list in a couple of places to allow objects to be shot at the highest altitude possible within the time constraints of shooting ALL of the objects.

When executing the "go to list", HandyAvi displays a count-down time to the next object and provides status when the telescope is slewing or an image is being captured.

Equipment

Meade LX-200 Classic f/6.3 scope.  TCF-S temperature compensated focuser.   f/6.3 focal reducer.  12 mm spacer.  SBIG ST-4000XCM single-shot color camera.  Scope operates at f/5.6 in that configuration as determined by "Pinpoint Astrometry" plate-solve in Maxim DL.

Trials and tribulations

Lots and lots of back-yard testing of the process and lots of revisions and improvements. 

Then on 31 March, drove out to the Hovatter site, set everything up and began testing. 

Encountered 19 Blue-Screen-Of-Death events that night!  Finally isolated it to something funny about the TCF-S focuser driver.  Could not operate with the focuser being actively controlled!  Realized that the little control box could handle the temperature compensation without software being invoked on the PC.  That is what I used then on 1 April when I got the above images.  I did not encounter this problem at ANY time when using the desk-top machine at home for testing.  Only when I got out to the desert using the laptop...  Will be debugging that over the next couple of days.  I have 19 "mini-dumps" to analyze after I collect everything needed to analyze mini-dumps, i.e., 200 Megabytes of Symbol Tables for example... (I later determined that the errors were apparently disk-drive errors. I replaced the disk drive and have had no further problems...)

So, always test with the ACTUAL equipment you are going to use out in the field!  Even if it looks like the machines should be exactly equivalent...  45 years continuous experience writing scientific software and I still didn't expect something like this...  Was a very good thing to go out early and test things...

So, looking forward to next year already to try this again....  :-)

 

2012 Attempted Repeat. I failed. Scope was not properly PEC trained and I was unable to determine what the problem was under the pressure of trying to get everything working for an automated try. Stars were badly trailed in RA due to this problem. I have since done PEC training under excellent seeing conditions so that problem is now resolved...

I will try again in 2013. I am trying to make the modifications I made to HandyAvi available as part of the software system so that others might try shooting all Messier objects in one night.