Beeing an AWB affiliate representing the Linzer Astronomical Society - LAG / AUSTRIA I took part in the first Global Observing Event of GAM 2010

 "Messier Marathon"

GAM 2010 - ONLINE- EVENT
5. - 6. April 2010 (Start: 18 UT)

I took some screenshots and drafted afterwards the following small review, about the event. This page is part of a mainly German written site.

Above picture shows the certificate, made by Gian Luca Masi (Virtual Telescope), which was delivered by him during this event.

The goal of  Messier Marathon is to observe as many Messier objects as possible in one night.
So a Messier Marathon is a hard job and there is much to do, therfore the event startet still in the twilight of 5.4.2010. Everything was already well prepared by Gianluca Masi to make this event successfull. Even the weather joined the game ;-)

Gianluca took place in his observatory and the fascinating show began !

The whole big community was online. Many dedicated AWB-people, beside many visitors, joined this event. Gianluca "played" as always virtuosic with his equipment. Fully concentrated he managed 3 computers, the chatroom, beside he looked at facebook and handeled his telescope &  the CCD-equipment of VirtualTelescope and did an excellent job on quick imageprocessing .....
Astonishing and extraordinary  multitasking skills !!! Beside this he was explaining and joking via webcam & and micro to the rest of the world !!! - incredible man, - GIAN, FOR THIS WE LIKE YOU !

Following are some screenshots, showing the shooting of the sky with C14 + CCDCamera and doing  LIVE-Imageprocessing during this event.

In the meantime Gianluca had time to hunt a new dedected comet. A great idea in respect the fact that C.Messier had been a dedicated comethunter.

Closing a little collage of 4 messierobjects, representative for all others, done this night.

For trying  to reproduce a little bit of the mood at this event following some originally citations of the entertaining chat during this event:

One People One Sky !
smacb: una gente, un cielo
une personnes, un ciel
???,???
één mensen, één hemel
eine Leute, ein Himmel
??a? ?????p??, ??a? ???a???
1??1??
1?? ???, 1 ??
um pessoa, um céu
???? ???, ???? ????
una personas, un cielo


.
oana: hello, gianluca!!! :)
hani: you seem to be really REALLY cold
Adelina: Thilina,we have also received a new telescope!!!I cannot wait to go home for summer!!!
anil: is the wheather cold there
*Cathy joined the room.
Douriana: lots of fun! thank you from portugal!!
smacb: Yeah! what's with the beard?
ogry: I'm onn pyjama!
Feanor: how cold is there actually?
HemetNeter: yes, it's hot here.
*photogazer left the room.
david: grande gianluca! fa freddino eh! un salutone!
danyx: maybe you need a little dome..
JVannini: great! I will prepare that picture for GAMPOD :)
Thilina: @Julio: Gian with beared! - busy busy busy!!!
HonorarySpock: Nice
oana: @Julio smart move ;-)

Rod: excellent!!
Nicolas: off course Gianluca, YES you are this
Natasha: beautiful
JVannini: :)
Thilina: LOL.. that will be fun!!!
Raquel: what is more or less the NELM there? It must be very nice
JoanC: You and Julio on the VT would be great!
Nicolas: I think so i`m the fan numbre 1 for colombia
Rob_Bowman: GAMPOD - is that a podcast?
MikeW: wow, check out the owl now! nice!
*Douriana left the room.
*Christophe joined the room.
Feanor: ok, time to eat :D
Thilina: GAMPOD - GAM Picture of the Day
http://www.astronomerswithoutborders.org/index.php/projects/global-astronomy-month/gam360/gampod.html

smacb: A great image
KPOCYPRUS: WE ARE OUTSIDE ON THE VERANDA PROJECTING THE EVENT TO 30 PEOPLE
*prima left the room.
KPOCYPRUS: IN CYPRUS
Yudi: Now, that's real owl.
*Leverkuhn left the room.
Thilina: WOW.. that's cool Cyprus!
Nicolas: Thank Gianluca, for teach the great book that is the cosmos at all the world
joe@AUT: No Beer ?!
MikeW: @KPOCYPRUS - very cool!!!
Godenemy: Nicolas
oana: GAMPOD - GAM Picture of the Day
JVannini: that's GAM beer from austria :p
Godenemy: De donde eres"
HonorarySpock: Romulan Ale us still flowing
oana: check here www.gam-awb.org
JoanC: Adelina, are you going to call me on Skype sometime soon?
Cathy: yes where is your beer Gianluca?
.
.
.
HonorarySpock: SpockyCoffee
http://picasaweb.google.com/paulrharper151/SpockyCoffee#5456751815597196610

Tatiana: ONE PEOPLE, ONE SKY
*Ian_Acklam joined the room.
HemetNeter: wow, that's far away.
Ali: it s Turkish. i am sorry i have to talk that.
*Ian left the room.
*anil joined the room.
*anil joined the room.
Rob_Bowman: ALi - it's all good. One people, one sky
anil: slm herkese
Sandra: haha! it sounds great Ali friend!
Sunay: slm Aanil
joe@AUT: @HonorarySpock - Nice Picture of you 2
brent: NICE SPOCKY COFFEE PHOTO.HAHAAHAHAHA
HonorarySpock: Yes that is me
HonorarySpock: Taken a few moments ago

joe@AUT: @HonorarySpock: My Answer to your Picture& my Drink ;-)
http://johannes_stuebler.public1.linz.at/GAM/joe&beer_s.jpg

Sandra: many thanks Rob!
*JVannini joined the room.
HonorarySpock: Nice one Joe
JVannini: Sorry guys... I think there should be some sort of intergalactic custom ban... I can't send you coffee :p
Yudi: i think I lost my passport in the previous M.
HonorarySpock: GAM Beer
brent: Nice GAM brew JOE
joe@AUT: :-)


Kathleen: Wow....upclose and personal.
Brenden: great!!!! amazing!
HonorarySpock: Nice
joe@AUT: WOW
Pleione: wowwwwwwww
*JVannini left the room.
Cathy: Really amazing
caraleisa: Beautiful!
Leverkuhn: uau!
*patty joined the room.
*Anuradha left the room.
Rob: Superb imaging -
HonorarySpock: Great one Gianluca
*Ali left the room.
*patty left the room.
joe@AUT: YES WE LIKE !!!
*Anuradha joined the room.
HemetNeter: where is the certificate?

degustar: Thanks!
*MalangPor joined the room.
*Robert joined the room.
StarHunter: M95 is a very nice
hansk: tnx Gianluca!
HonorarySpock: Great idea Gianluca
Brenden: I saved it as a picture...
MalangPor: Where is the cert ?
degustar: certificate is above the image
Kathleen: Oh, this is lovely...re: certificate...thank you, Gianluca. I will definitely share this on FAcebook.
davidw: Great example of a barred-spiral!
Rob: Gianluca - best image of M95 '
Sandra: dear Joan what's the time there in Maine?
Pleione: i see the certificate
HemetNeter: OK, THANKS.
Sunay: where is sertificate?
Brenden: Thank you its wonderful
HonorarySpock: 4.36pmEDT?
*Robert left the room.
Pleione: on the page
Susy: grazie Gianluca!!
Pleione: not here in the chat, the other page
Pleione: at the top on the right
*Brenden left the room.
*Danilo joined the room.
*Brenden joined the room.
Anuradha: Use this link http://virtualtelescope.bellatrixobservatory.org/mm2010certificate.jpg
HonorarySpock: Nice Spiral Galaxy

Some spammers with pertinent offers interfered our great eventchat only marginal - we ignored them :-)

hillo: stickam.com/XXXX COME IN, PRETTY GIRL, MIGHT GET NAKED. LETS GET HER A LOT OF VIEWS!!
Thilina: ahhh.... spammers!!
JasmineAln: here toooooo?B...d
Thilina: "One People One Sky" :-)
Sandra: oh yes I certainly am dear!!!!
*hillo left the room.
*Annamalai joined the room.
*Nelson joined the room.
Thilina: yup...
JasmineAln: what a shame how thos ethese people get in such things
JVannini: yes Gianluca... it always happens
Rod: what a t*sser

Feanor: he left immediately, stupid spammer
Cathy: arf......
Giulio: I hate spammers
Tiare: arrghhh
Yudi: Let's write a comment whenever we see spammers, so they will go away.
JoanC: I think the best way to deal with spammers is not to give them any attention
.
.

COUNTRIES-PEOPLE-COUNTRIES-PEOPLE-COUNTRIES-PEOPLE-COUNTRIES-PEOPLE

When Gianluca asked in the meantime for the countries of the participants see what following happened within seconds:

JoanC: Are you Adelina from Tanzania??
Adelina: Yes!!!!!
hani: best wishes for your midterms!
Sunay: Anil, bulabildin mi?
*John joined the room.
anil: evt
Thilina: bye Liamia, thanks for coming!
Adelina: Joan...how are you this evening?
*tjsadler joined the room.
tjsadler: USA
Sandra: Thilina you - are -the- man
GianlucaM: I'm Italy
Brenden: USA
Raquel: Brazil
Adelina: Tanzania
Thilina: Sri Lanka
MikeW: New Zealand!!!
Feanor: MACEDONIA
Natasha: Croatia
Cathy: france
Sunay: tmm, kabul ettim
JVannini: Nicaragua
oana: Romania
joe@AUT: AUSTRIA
caraleisa: usa
JasmineAln: Ireland
hani: LEBANONNNNN
davidw: USA
Leverkuhn: Spain
victor: mexico
adriano: italy
photogazer: Virginia USA
John: UK
Rod: England
HonorarySpock: UK
madema: holland
Rob_Bowman: England - South Coast
rebiccola: USA
Danziger: Italy
*rodrigo joined the room.
Mingo: usa california
Sunay: tanistigimiza memnun oldum :)
Sandra: Italy
HonorarySpock: Planet Vulcan
rodrigo: brazil!
luigip: Genova
KPOCYPRUS: CYPRUS - KITION PLANETARIUM & OBSERVATORY
*Tiare joined the room.
tjsadler: New Mexico USA
brent: USA
photogazer: Mars
paoletta: italy
HemetNeter: usa
smacb: Cornwall!
raffaele: Napoli
JoanC: USA Maine
anil: bende
KPOCYPRUS: CYPRUS
*Nelson joined the room.
hani: LEBANON
*Nelson joined the room.
Tiare: Chile!
jusè: Italy
Ian_Acklam: Middlesbrough/ENGLAND
Tatiana: Italy
Thilina: Global village in here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
oana: :)))))
*ogry joined the room.
Nelson: Portugal
*Salvatore joined the room.
KPOCYPRUS: CYPRUS
HonorarySpock: Yay Cornwall
*Astronomer joined the room.
Danziger: i'm from the ISS :-P
*Godenemy joined the room.
*Alison joined the room.
*Alison joined the room.
Thilina: "One People One Sky"
victor: countries no states
Rob_Bowman: lol smacb - Cornwall is NOT a country
Tiare: Viva CHILE!
Godenemy: Colombia!
KPOCYPRUS: CYPRUS
Brenden: more specific... Phoenix, Arizona, USA
 

The "Messier Marathon" - ONLINE EVENT was again a  piece of online- history, concerning the feeling of togetherness around the globe of professional astronomers and amateurastronomers as well.

Again the slogan "ONE PEOPLE, ONE SKY" became true. We all could feel - at first hand - the connecting impact of astronomy.

MANY THANKS TO GIANLUCA
 (VIRTUAL TELESCOPE)
&
ASTRONOMERS WITHOUT BORDERS

 FOR THIS IMPRESSIVE EVENT !

Following are the old links to the first historic Remote-Observing-Meeting of AWB and Virtual Telescope:

KLICK HERE   for a latest example of international collaboration on sharing our OneSky (including supernova-dedection!)

KLICK HERE  for a  report written in German of international collaboration on sharing our OneSky.

KLICK HERE   for the report of the IYA2009-Closing-Event of Virtualtelescope

KLICK HERE   for the report of the global "Big Dipper, Southern Cross - Event" (8.u.10.Jänner 2010)

text & pictures Johannes Stübler LAG/Austria