The Life and Catalogue of Charles Messier
by Jon Zander
The World of Charles Messier
In 1815, events occurred in Europe that rippled throughout the world. Napoleon Bonaparte had his final defeat at Waterloo, and the victors held the Congress of Vienna to restore the French throne and redraw the map of Europe. Also in the same year, a remarkable French astronomer with a specialty in hunting comets--by this time retired in Paris--suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed. Two years later he was deceased, but like the deposed dictator that had ruled his country, he also left an indelible mark on history. He departed a very different Europe from that into which he was born, and one of the scientific legacies developed during the 18 th Century is the body of work he developed and we still use and build upon today.
His world was one of exploration via sailing ships and continent crossing expeditions by those like Captain Cook and Lewis & Clark. European empires were expanding and covered the globe with extensive colonization and trade routes, reaching to just about every corner of the Earth. Decadent rule by King Louis XVI and the French aristocracy was brutally replaced by democracy and quickly in turn by dictatorship. Intense philosophical progression regarding the rights of the common citizen conjoined with cultural revolution and was inspired by thinkers such as Rousseau, Voltaire, and Franklin–this ideology quickly broke past national borders and spread throughout entire continents via empires and colonies. Elaborate music was composed and performed by some of the greatest minds of the classical genre like Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Rapid technological and scientific advancement was propelled by the Industrial Revolution and brought forth steam engines, mass production of textiles, railways and canals, growing urban centers with machine-powered factories, and the first global wars. The 18 th Century was the end of the Age of Reason & Enlightenment and the beginning of the Age of Revolution, both of which would profoundly affect his life.
His Astronomical Legacy
Messier’s contribution to 18 th Century astronomy was to help develop a greater understanding of the cosmos above and inspire further celestial exploration. However, his lasting legacy is not the comets he so efficiently sought, but ironically the list of deep space objects he wanted to avoid while searching for comets. His list was intended to help his contemporary astronomers avoid making repeated mistakes while searching for the faint nebulous objects speeding through our solar system, but there are a few suspect items in the list that seem to be included for other reasons. What we have now from his efforts is a catalogue of some of the grandest objects in the night sky. There are a few objects included that are lacking in visual excitement, but some are simply unforgettable when seen through a quality telescope for the first time.
Sponsored links
Our Dark Skies Web Community is a service of Vydor Network Services. All content of these pages, and the entire site is copyrighted by Vydor Network Services, and may not be used by anyone without express written permission. All works submitted to are governed by these rules. The forums are governed by the Forum Terms and Rules.
For information regarding advertising on Our Dark Skies, please see [this page].