Charles Messier

Charles Messier

Charles Messier (1730-1817) was born the 10^th of 12 children. His interest in astronomy was stimulated by the appearance of the great six-tailed comet in 1744 and by a solar eclipse that was in his hometown in 1748. When he was 21 he starting working for Joseph Nicolas Delisle, the astronomer for the French Navy, who instructed him to keep careful records of his observations. As time went on and his reputation as an astronomer grew, he was elected to several astronomical societies.

The King, Louis XV, believed that if a comet appeared without warning, he would die. So he hired Messier to “keep a look-out” for them. Messier saved the king’s life 15 times. During his search for comets with his 102mm refractor telescope, he observed many “fuzzy” objects out there that interfered with his search for comets. He kept meticulous notes on these objects (as well as the comets) and in 1774 published a “catalog” of 45 such objects. The final version of the catalog was published in 1784 with the list of Messier Objects growing to 103. Since then astronomers and historians have discovered evidence of another seven objects that have been added to the list so there are a total of 110 Messier Objects. M1 – M110 are still in use by professional and amateur astronomers alike. The objects were assigned numbers by Messier as he discovered them so are not in groups by location or object type as the later New General Catalog (NGC) would be.

The Messier Catalog comprises nearly all of the most spectacular examples of deep sky objects galaxies, open and globular star clusters, and planetary nebulae visible from European latitudes. Because they were discovered with a relatively small telescope, they are objects that can see seen fairly easily by backyard astronomers as well as professionals with much larger equipment. If you have the opportunity, take a look at or Google some of Messier’s objects such as M-13 or M-57. They are spectacular!