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• 2025 Messier Marathon

  • Start
    Friday, March 28, 2025
  •  
    7:20 PM
  • End
    Saturday, March 29, 2025
  • Location
    Bruneau Dunes State Park

  F

  Folks,

  In our last board meeting (2.12.2025), we discussed and then approved holding the Messier marathon once again at the Eagle Cove Campground at Bruneau Dunes State Park. This is an informal event, and if you'd like to participate, you'll need to make your own reservations in the Eagle Cove Campground through the Idaho Parks & Recreation website, NOT BAS. The dates will be the weekend of the 28th and 29th of March, which is a Friday and Saturday. Saturday is a reserve night in case of clouds.

  At the general meeting; I made the official announcement for this event, and as has been done in the past, there may be a potluck dinner on either Friday or Saturday night. More information will be posted at a later date. Park Ranger Greg Harman said the observatory will be open full time that weekend, so if you'd like to join the group, your reservations should be made as soon as possible.

  If you are not sure what the process is for the Messier marathon, have not participated, etc. A Messier marathon is an attempt to find as many Messier objects as possible during one night. The Messier catalogue was compiled by French astronomer Charles Messier during the late 18th century and consists of 110 relatively bright deep-sky objects Messier cataloged while searching for comets. You may want to use the log sheet found in the files section on the left-hand side of the Groups.io page.

  To help you understand the Messier marathon, you may want to read the enclosed booklet The Observing Guide to the Messier marathon A Handbook and Atlas by Don Machholz, I have also uploaded this booklet to the files section. 

  If you have any questions, please contact me.

  David Olsen, President

  BAS

  PS the start time listed for this event (7:20 pm) is  approximately sunset/dusk. Arrive earlier if you want to set up during daylight.
  
  LE

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• March New (no) Moon

  • When
    Saturday, March 29, 2025
  •  
    5:00 PM
  • Location
    Dedication point

  Observing while there is no moon light is ideal for visual and astrophotographers alike.

  BAS attempts to hold organized star parties as close to the Saturday before  or after new moon as possible. 

  These are free and open to the public. They are usually held at Dedication point (about 15 miles south of Kuna on Swan Falls Dam Road but please see the calendar for specific dates and details.

  March of 2025 the new moon coincides with a Saturday  and the Messier Marathon.

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• April General Membership meeting

  • When
    Thursday, April 17, 2025
  •  
    7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
  • Location
    Anser Charter School

  The April general member Meeting of the Boise Astronomical Society
  will beheld on April 17th.

  location:  Anser charter school the meetings gets under way at 7pm and generally wraps up at 8 to 8:30pm
  Anser's address is
  202 East 42nd Street
  Garden City, Idaho

  As of this writing we do not have  a guest speaker lined up to present. If you know of anyone who could talk about an astronomy topic for roughly 45 minutes to an hour send their contact info to Jeff Creed.

  
  

  
  

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