Charles Messier
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Charles Messier was a French astronomer. He published an astronomical catalogue consisting of 110 nebulae and star clusters, which came to be known as the Messier objects, referred to with the letter
Charles Messier, c. 1770
Messier's grave in Père Lachaise
The Orion Nebula as drawn by Messier, and which he gave the designation M 42 in his catalogue
Commemorative plaque in Messier's hometown of Badonviller
Pierre Méchain
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Pierre François André Méchain was a French astronomer and surveyor who, with Charles Messier, was a major contributor to the early study of deep-sky objects and comets.
Charles Messier
…fixed diffuse objects in the night sky which could be mistaken for comets. He compiled a list of them, in collaboration with his friend and assistant Pierre Méchain (who may have found at least 20 of the objects), to avoid wasting time sorting them out from the comets for which they were looking. The entries are…
Portrait of Méchain, c. 1882