SKU: 17232443786

The Year-Round Messier Marathon

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The Year-Round Messier MarathonBy Harvard Pennington Product Information: 8. 50" by 11. 00", 194 pages, hardbound. Among the deepest satisfactions of amateur astronomy is knowing your way around the sky. From the familiar guideposts of the brightest stars, you confidently point your binoculars or telescope toward the Andromeda galaxy, the Hercules cluster, or the Lagoon nebula. This book was written for the person who wants to become deeply familiar with the most famous list of 110

By Harvard Pennington

Product Information: 8.50" by 11.00", 194 pages, hardbound.

Among the deepest satisfactions of amateur astronomy is knowing your way around the sky. From the familiar guideposts of the brightest stars, you confidently point your binoculars or telescope toward the Andromeda galaxy, the Hercules cluster, or the Lagoon nebula. This book was written for the person who wants to become deeply familiar with the most famous list of 110 deep-sky wonders, the Messier objects. Using bright “guidepost stars”and detailed sky charts, the novice soon learns how to find the nebulae, star clusters, and galaxies that every amateur astronomer should know. And you need not “run” this marathon just a few weeks a year. Even at the worst you will have about 90 of the 110 objects visible throughout the year!

The observing techniques taught in this book are both easy to learn and powerful, suitable not only for the novice but also for the experienced amateur. By following the sequence of charts presented in the second half of the book, a beginner using Harvard Pennington's methods should be able to locate and identify 25 to 30 Messier objects at any time of year before midnight. By working systematically against time, by running the “Messier Marathon” the observer quickly hones crucial observing skills and soon gains a deep familiarity with the night sky.

Once each year, on a moonless night during late March or early April, observers have an opportunity to test their skills by trying to observe all 110 objects that make up the Messier catalog in just one night! In the early evening, its a race against time to sight the first objects before they set. During the night, marathoners maintain a steady pace to find object after object, and as the dawn light grows, they try to spot the last one before it is lost in the morning twilight. It is not easy, but those who have done the dusk-to-dawn Messier Marathon run it again and again.

In this book, Harvard Pennington shows how to:

  • Learn 17 bright finder stars and 17 prominent finder constellations so you will know where to look for all 110 Messier objects.
  • Align a sighting device such as the Telrad® so that you can point your telescope rapidly and with assurance toward all of the Messier objects
  • Calibrate your telescope so that you know exactly how much sky you see through your finder and through the eyepiece of your telescope.
  • Find all of the Messier objects using the maps, drawings and descriptions included in this book. You will know exactly where to point your telescope, and what the object should look like when you find it.
  • The Year-Round Messier Marathon Field Guide is designed around pages like those shown above which take the guess work out of locating Messier Objects. The circles shown on the map of Orion are Telrad finder views. Just place the Telrad as shown and you are very close. Then check (if necessary) the 8 x 50 finder views shown on the opposite page to zero in on the object. The sketches and accompanying text take the guess work out any final identification. This technique works year-round so you do not have to limit your fun to a single night in the Spring!

ISBN: 978-0943396545

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SKU: 17232443786

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Jacob Johnson
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amazing!!
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Full of twists and turns but an amazing story of love and friendship! A must read if you like a little mystery.
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jesica love
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★★★★★ 3
Not what I expected at all
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Hmmm. So this is a good book. But I’m mad b/c I feel betrayed. The back of the book says it’s about Dannie, and how the night she gets engaged to her longtime boyfriend David, she falls asleep. And then she wakes up and spends one hour 5 years in the future. A different apartment, a different ring, a different man. “It’s a love story, but it is not the one you’re expecting”. Ok, so spoiler alert. If you’re planning to read the book, maybe you shouldn’t read this review and should just read the book as it’s meant to be read. But I would have liked a warning. This is a story about friendship. Dannie and Bella have been best friends since they were 7. While Dannie is conservative and loves to plan, Bohemian Bella flies by the seat of her pants and goes where the wind takes her. They are so different, but are twin souls. And I think the story of their friendship would have been enough. But instead, I was told it was a love story about a woman and two potential men. And I was definitely not warned that this would be a crying book, but the last 20 pages had me just over misty. Overall, this was not the book I thought I’d be reading. And while it was good, I feel like I’ve been tricked and I’m mad about it.
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Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2025
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well written
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I enjoyed reading this story. It kept my attention and I read the book in a couple of days. The end was a bit unexpected, which is a good thing. The story itself was a little slow at times and I didn’t feel that drawn to the characters. I also wish I had known that it would be a bit sad.
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Lesliereneea
Massapequa, US
★★★★★ 5
Great Book!
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I am not a big reader (but I wish I was! Too restless) so when a friend suggested this book to me, I wasnt sure I'd be able to start (or finish it) to my surprise, I loved it and finished it in a weekend. Now I am on to her other books! Great read! (Even for us non readers) :)
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Sam bennish
Boise, US
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finished in one day
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Wow this book pulls at the heart strings for sure!!! I loved this I couldn’t put it down, finished it In one day
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Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2026

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