What superb irony that one of the great comet discoverers of all time is now remembered for his catalogue of objects that were not comets.
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Charles Messier (1730 - 1817) was an 18th century French astronomer who was primarily interested in discovering new comets.
He found so many comets, some 20 all told, that King Louis XV of France called him the Comet Ferret.
Charles and his assistant Pierre Mechain set about documenting the small blurry objects they found that were not comets.
They catalogued 110 beautiful, outstanding and exceedingly strange celestial objects that exist today as the Messier Catalogue.
Astronomers, mainly amateurs, in late March early April and at the dark of the Moon try to find and verify all 110 Messier objects. It is a night-long effort requiring stamina and precision.
I well remember the early hours of a terribly long night, a cold dew and bloodshot eyes trying to find the last few southern objects in the pale light of dawn.
At least I can claim to have taken part, handicapped as we are by being in the southern hemisphere where some objects are not available to view.
But it is the effort and stamina not the final result as I tell myself.
So here’s to the Messier Marathon and there is now an app to help find these lovely examples of celestial wonder.
It is always a pleasure to receive these emails from Terry Hancock, an Australian living in Michigan.
His dedication to the art of astrophotography is legendary.
This time he has excelled himself. As he reports:
Good News from The Downunder observatory in up-over Michigan.
The snow is finally almost melted and we have had three clear nights in the past week, so I have new data flowing for the first time in 2015.
Here is a capture of The Flaming Star Nebula viewed here in colour, for your use, I do hope you like them. All the best and clear skies.
– Terry
I will do my best Terry and how sad Messier and Pierre Mechain did not get to see your wonderful photographs of nebula they had never seen.
And remember Friday is the Autumnal Equinox. Equal day and equal night as our Sun travels north into our winter.