Astronomy: Astronomer Charles Messier

Charles Messier was born in Badonviller in France, as the 10th of 12 children of Nicolas Messier and Francoise b. Grandblaise. Six of his brothers and sisters died at young age, and in 1741 his father died; he had to finish his school education. Charles got interested in astronomy when he was 14 years old when a great 6-tailed comet appeared. This interest was further stimulated by an annular Solar eclipse which was visible from his hometown on July 25, 1748. In 1751 he went to Paris and he was employed by the astronomer of the Navy, Joseph Nicolas Delisle, because of his fine hand-writing. In 1757 Charles Messier started looking for comet Halley. His first reported observation of M32, a companion of the Andromeda galaxy, took place in the same year. Messier started to devote his life to comet hunting, and started a catalog of diffuse objects - that looked very much like comets - to avoid confusion. ``What caused me to undertake the catalog was the nebula I discovered above the southern horn of Taurus on September 12, 1758, whilst observing the comet of that year. This nebula had such a resemblance to a comet in its form and brightness that I endeavored to find others, so that astronomers would no more confuse these same nebulae with comets just beginning to appear. I observed further with suitable refractors for the discovery of comets, and this is the purpose I had in mind in compiling the catalog. After me, the celebrated Herschel published a catalog of 2000 which he has observed. This unveiling the heavens, made with instruments of great aperture, does not help in the persual of the sky for faint comets. Thus my object is different from his, and I need only nebulae visible in a telescope of two feet. Since the publication of my catalog, I have observed still others: I will publish them in the future in the order of right ascension for the purpose of making them more easy to recognise and for those searching for comets to have less uncertainty.'' In the following years Messier observed the skies and the catalog grew with globular clusters (e.g. M3), star clusters (M41), the first Virgo Cluster galaxy categorized as M49. As time passed by he was selected as member of various Acadamies in various countries. A very impressive resume: 1764 member of the Academy of Haarlem, The Netherlands and also member of the Royal Society in London, England; 1765 memberships in the Academy of Auxerre, France and the Institute of Bologne, Italy; 1769 member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences, Germany; 1772 member of Acadamy of Brussels, Belgium and in the same year member of the Royal Academy of Hungary; 1780 member of the Literary Society of Upsala, Sweden; 1784 member of the Academy of Sciences of Dublin, Ireland; 1785 member of the Académy de Stanislav, Nancy, France; 1788 member of the Academy of Vergara, Spain. Today, the catalog of Charles Messier is still famous and very much used. Many objects in the sky are referred to with their Messier's catalog number. M1 the Crab Nebula, M31 the Andromeda Galaxy, M42 the Orion Nebula and others are famous Deep Sky objects. Messier died at the age of 87 in the year 1817 and was buried on the cemetry of Père Lachaise in Paris, Franche. He made a catalog of 110 "Messier" objects. Related subject >> Messier catalog of 110 deep sky objects

Charles Messier at the age of 40