Posted
on June 26, 2015
Every
once in a while you see a gorgeous nebula, sprawling galaxy, or
sparkling star cluster referred to as Messier object number
such-and-such. More often, you see more cryptic identifiers like
“M3,” “M64,” “M110.”
 |
| Messier's Catalog during his own time, above, and now, below. |
Today's
famous birthday was able to put his stamp on astronomy by creating a
catalog of astronomical objects – from M1 to M110 – so that comet
hunters could tell the difference between smudges of light that were
always in the sky from smudges of light that are new and different!
Charles
Messier himself was a comet hunter, of course, and that is why he
realized that such a listing would be useful. He discovered 13 comets
in his lifetime.
Charles
Messier was the tenth of twelve children, born in France on this date
in 1730. He saw a spectacular comet in 1744, when he was just 14
years old, and he later saw an annular solar eclipse – and he was
intrigued. He wanted to know more, search for more, discover more of
these beautiful, rare sights.
Messier
was one of the people who pushed forward our knowledge of the
universe, and we who live so much later are the lucky ones who get to
pore over modern Hubble images of all the marvelous Messier objects!
Also
on this date:
Plan
ahead:
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