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Charles Messier

[mes-ee-ey; Fr. me-syey]

Charles Messier (June 26, 1730 – April 12, 1817) was a French astronomer most notable for publishing an astronomical catalog consisting of deep sky objects such as nebulae and star clusters that came to be known as the 103 "Messier objects". The purpose of the catalogue was to help comet hunters (like himself) and other astronomical observers to distinguish between permanent and transient objects in the sky.

Messier's life

Messier was born in Badonviller in the Lorraine region of France, the 10th of 12 children of catchpole Nicolas Messier and Francoise b. Grandblaise. Six of his brothers and sisters died young, and in 1741, his father died. Charles' interest in astronomy was stimulated by the appearance of a great six-tailed comet in 1744 and by an annular solar eclipse visible from his hometown on July 25, 1748.

In 1751 he entered the employ of Joseph Nicolas Delisle, the astronomer of the French Navy, who instructed him to keep careful records of his observations. Messier's first documented observation was that of the Mercury transit of May 6, 1753.

In 1764, he was made a fellow of the Royal Society, and on June 30, 1770, he was elected to the French Academy of Sciences

Messier discovered thirteen comets :

C/1760 B1 (Messier)
C/1763 S1 (Messier)
C/1764 A1 (Messier)
C/1766 E1 (Messier)
C/1769 P1 (Messier)
D/1770 L1 (Lexell)
C/1771 G1 (Messier)
C/1773 T1 (Messier)
C/1780 U2 (Messier)
C/1788 W1 (Messier)
C/1793 S2 (Messier)
C/1798 G1 (Messier)
C/1785 A1 (Messier-Mechain) — with Pierre Méchain

His catalogue

The first version of Messier's catalogue contained 45 objects and was published in 1774 in the journal of the French Academy of Sciences in Paris. By the time the final version of the catalogue was published in 1781, the list of Messier objects had grown to 103. On several different occasions between 1921 and 1966, astronomers and historians discovered evidence of another seven deep-sky objects that were observed either by Messier or his friend and assistant Pierre Mechain shortly after the final version was published. These seven objects, M104 through M110, are accepted by many astronomers as "official" Messier objects. The objects' designations, from M1 to M110, are still in use by professional and amateur astronomers today.

The catalog is not scientifically organized by object type or by location (as the later New General Catalogue would be). Nonetheless, the Messier catalog comprises examples of every known deep sky object, including galaxies, planetary nebulae, open clusters, and globular clusters. Because these objects were accessible to the relatively small aperture telescope (approximately 102 mm, or 4 inches) used by Messier to study the sky, they are among the most spectacular deep sky objects available to modern amateur astronomers using much better equipment. Furthermore, almost all of the Messier objects are among the closest to our planet in their respective classes, which makes them heavily studied with professional class instruments that today can resolve very small and visually spectacular details in them. Professional astronomers still refer to objects by their Messier designation, and in amateur astronomy they are among the most frequently visited deep sky objects.

Many of the objects in the Messier catalog were discovered by his assistant Pierre Mechain.

The Messier crater on the Moon and the asteroid 7359 Messier were named in his honor.

Footnotes

Sources

O'Meara, Stephen James (1998). Deep Sky Companions: The Messier Objects. Cambridge University Press.

Charles Messier Biography at Students for the Exploration and Development of Space. Accessed July 2007
Short biography of Charles Messier and history of the Messier Object Catalog by Jon Zander at OurDarkSkies.com . Accessed July 2007
Life of a Comet Hunter: Messier and Astrobiology Professor Mark Brake and Martin Griffiths, Astrobiology Magazine European Edition, Spring 2007. Accessed July 2007

External links

Amateur Photos of Charles Messier Objects
Messier Marathon Attempts to find as many Messier objects as possible in one night.
New General Catalog and Index Catalog revisions NGC/IC Project is a collaborative effort between professional and amateur astronomers to correctly identify all of the original NGC and IC objects, such that the identity of each of the NGC and IC objects is known with as much certainty as we can reasonably bring to it from the existing historical record. Accessed July 2007
Clickable table of Messier objects