Charles Messier · Asteria Star

Biography

Charles Messier was a dedicated French comet-hunter who grew tired of mistaking fuzzy, unmoving objects for comets. To avoid the confusion he listed them — galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters — in a catalogue of about 110 entries. That list of 'nuisances' became one of the most beloved observing guides in all of astronomy.

Scientific contributions

Compiled the Messier catalogue of nebulae and star clusters
Discovered or co-discovered more than a dozen comets

Catalogues

Messier Catalogue1781 CE

Knowledge connections

Part ofModern Astronomy
IntroducedMessier Catalogue
Associated withCaldwell Catalogue
Associated withDeep-Sky Visual Catalogues

Sources & references

Facts on this topic will be cited from these primary and reference sources.

BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica
General reference for the history of astronomy, biographies, and cultural context.
OpenNGCOpenNGC (M. Verga) — NGC/IC, Messier, and Caldwell catalogue data
Openly-licensed deep-sky catalogue: object types, positions, magnitudes, sizes, morphology, and cross-identifiers.

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