Charles Messier
(born June 26, 1730, Badonviller, France?died April 12, 1817, Paris) was a French astronomer who was the first to compile a systematic catalog of
nebulae
and
star
clusters. In
Messier’s
time, a
nebula
was a term used to denote any blurry celestial light source.
In 1751 Messier became a draftsman and recorder of astronomical observations for the noted French astronomer
Joseph-Nicolas Delisle
. Messier was the first in
France
to observe the anticipated return of
Halley’s Comet
in 1758?59, and from that time he became an
ardent
searcher for new comets. Called the
comet
ferret by King
Louis XV
, Messier independently discovered 13 of them and observed many more.
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In 1760 he began compiling a list of nebulae so that he could distinguish better between nebulae and comets, which look alike when viewed with a small telescope such as was available to Messier. Many of these nebulae, including some of the most prominent, are still known by his catalog numbers. Messier was elected a foreign member of the Royal Society of London in 1764 and obtained a seat in the Paris Academy of Sciences in 1770.