Charles Messier, was a French astronomer whose work on the discovery of comets led to the compilation of the Messier Catalogue of nebulae and star clusters. The reason Messier compiled this catalogue was to save time while comet hunting. It takes time for a comet hunter to check each comet suspect (by checking for motion). With his small instrument (2 or 3 inch diameter refractor), even star clusters would look fuzzy like a comet. (You can check by looking at some of the M objects using binoculars.) By using his catalogue, Messier could see whether a comet suspect was actually a nebulae that he had previously observed.
Messier discovered 103 of these objects. The others were discovered later and added on to the list. If you want to know more about Charles Messier Click Here.
To see the Messier objects listed by the season Click Here.
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