Messier Imaging Marathon - 61 down & 49 to go

[ewanv1970]

Tonight I've reached a bit of a milestone in my "Image everything in the Messier Catalogue" challenge and passed the point where I have less than 50 left to capture.  Tonight I've grabbed M37, 97 and 108.  With M109 and 106 on my missing list too and them being circumpolar, I shoud be able to grab them on the next clear night and bring my outstanding count to 47 wihtout much effort.

In the main, I'm making sure that I have an obsy shutdown time of midnight so that I can still function the next day, so it's taken quite a few nights to get to where I am now.  Don't get me wrong - Messier items aren't my only targets and several of them (Orion, Andromeda, Triangulum, etc.) that I've imaged every year and often several times over a season.  There are also some from my early imaging days that are pretty poor images so I may revisit them if the opportunity and inclination are there, but my main goal is still to have at least one stacked image of every item on the list.

I'd be interested to know if anyone else has attempted this, how far you got and if you completed it, how many years it took you (please don't say "one" or I'll cry).

[almcl]

I started my 'Messier quest' back in January 2015.   I got to 108 in August this year.  My excuses are that at 52°½° N and living on the northwest side of a tree clad slope makes the more southerly ones quite a challenge, some don't get above 15° of elevation, even if I drive out to a windswept high moorland dark sky site.  

Also got distracted by all sorts of non-Messier things.  But, if we have a clear, windless night or two next April or early May, I might bag the last two.

[tomato]

Total respect for getting over halfway, I think I have about 30 although some I have imaged many, many times. Below is a link to an intrepid US imager who attempted to image the entire catalogue in a single night, how crazy is that?!