(This event is tentative.  Confirmation and location to be determined.)

Cloud cover cancels this event.  Check this webpage four hours prior to the start of the event for any cancellation announcement.

This event has three themes:

Theme #1:  Club Members Only Star Party (not a public event)
Join other club members (and their families and friends) for an evening (or all night!) of casual stargazing and socializing.  Location TBD.

Theme #2:  "Messier Marathon"
A Messier Marathon is an attempt to view as many Messier objects as possible in one night.  If the weather cooperates and the skies are clear all night, it is theoretically possible to view nearly all 110 objects in the Messier Catalog during this event, starting at dusk and ending before morning twilight.  Learn more about the history of Messier Marathons here.

To guide you on which Messier objects to search for throughout the night, download this Messier Marathon search sequence list.

While some club members intend to spend the entire night searching for Messier objects, all club members are welcome to spend as little or as much time at this event as they wish, doing whatever stargazing as they wish.  For those of you who do not own a telescope but still want to view Messier objects this evening, come on out and look through other members' telescopes and MIRA-provided telescopes.

Theme #3:  Telescope Clinic
Got a telescope but do not know how to use it?  Bring it to this event and let another club member teach you how.  If interested, contact me so that I can pair you with another club member.  (If you show up with a telescope unannounced, there may not be anyone available to help you.)  Contact me if you are willing to help another club member with his/her telescope.

What is the Messier Catalog?
The Messier Catalog is a list of 110 of some of the brightest "deep sky" (outside of our solar system) celestial objects visible from northern latitudes, initially created by the French astronomer Charles Messier in the late 18th century.  This list includes star clusters, nebulae, galaxies and one supernova remnant!  Nearly all of these objects are visible through small amateur telescopes.  Some are even naked-eye objects.