Well in the 1700 s a French astronomer was looking for comets. He kept track of every fuzzy thing that he found in the sky that did not move and was not a comet. As viewed through modern telescopes, these have turned out to be some of the most spectacular deep space objects that can be seen from earth. It s an all night astronomy marathon.
Time is of the essence.
Your search must be organized in order to catch the first few before they dip below the horizon. It slows down for a bit and then picks up a frenzied pace as the galaxcies in the Virgo cluster appear. One must fight dew and fatigue and hope that nature cooperates. In 2000, at the first annual messier marathon, David Tolley set the record for our group with 40 objects found. This Year, at the second annual messier marathon, David out did himself.