Today in the history of astronomy, the man behind the catalog is born.
Charles Messier (1730-1817) was a French astronomer and comet hunter who compiled a catalog of deep-sky objects that were definitely not comets. Many amateur astronomers now use the Messier Catalog to identify the beautiful and easy-to-find targets. Credit: Ansiaux/Wikimedia
Charles Messier was born in Badonviller, France, on June 26, 1730, the 10th child of court bailiff Nicolas and his wife Françoise. His childhood interest in astronomy was stoked by Comet Klinkenberg-Chéseaux in 1744 and the solar eclipse of 1748, and in 1751 he moved to Paris to become an ***istant at the Naval Observatory. Messier developed into the foremost comet hunter of the 18th century, discovering 21 comets and observing 44 in total, and earning the nickname “Comet Ferret” from King Louis XV. But his enduring fame comes from his catalog of 110 not-comets: deep-sky objects, which he compiled primarily to avoid confusing these “uninteresting entities” with comets during his searches. Today, the catalog remains an essential guide for amateur astronomers – including those who attempt a Messier Marathon, or observing all the objects in one night.
