The Messier Catalogue
Charles Messier
1730-1817
•
•
•
•
10th of 12 children
Father died when Charles was 11
Educated at home by an older brother
Drawn to astronomy
– Six-tailed comet in 1744
– Annular solar eclipse in 1748
• Went to work for Joseph Delisle, Astronomer
to the French Navy, in 1751
Charles Messier
1730-1817
• A life-long search for comets began in 1758
with Halley’s Comet
• Soon realized that there were many diffuse
objects in the sky that looked like comets in
the early stage of tail forming
• Began to catalogue these “objects to avoid”
• Identified 40 in his lifetime; others added
another 70
Charles Messier
1730-1817
• Became Astronomer to the Navy in 1771
• French Revolution was a disastrous period
(1789-1799)
• Reinstated by Napoleon Bonaparte
• Limited as a scientist
• An astute observational astronomer
• Reluctantly went to wife’s death bed
The Messier Catalogue
• 110 objects
• 12 nebulae; 55 star clusters; 39 galaxies; 1
binary star (M40); 1 star cloud (M24); 1
asterism (M73); 1 possible duplication (M101
and M102);