While exploring the heavens, our amateur astronomers
sometimes give a tour of a few of Messier Objects. But what are
Messier Objects? Charles Messier (1730 – 1817) was a French astronomer of
little education, who through observation and perseverance discovered numerous
comets and other deep space objects such as nebulae, galaxies, and star
clusters. But comets were his passion. Although his discoveries are noteworthy,
he is remembered today for compiling and publishing his and other astronomers’
discoveries into a series of catalogs. Each object listed was given a number; the
Crab Nebula – M01, Andromeda galaxy – M13 etc. He complied 110 of these
objects. Ironically his purpose in creating the categories was to list
those things which he thought were a time waster, “objects to avoid”, when
comet hunting. Although, he was excellent at finding comets and deep space objects and
making astute observations of a whole range of things from sunspots to eclipses
to occultation of astrological objects. He was no mathematician or theoretician,
and he relied on others to compute the orbit of his comets. His work earned him
the position of Chief Astronomer of the Marine Observatory in 1759. He was also
elected to the numerous notable Science Academies throughout Europe. Eventually,
he received the Cross of the Legion of Honor from Napoleon himself. To this
day, his lasting legacy, the Messier Catalog, is still used by amateur
astronomers all around the world. It includes the majority of the best deep sky
objects visible in the Northern Hemisphere.
Monday, February 12, 2018
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