Charles Messier
Charles Messier ( born June 26, 1730 in Badonviller (Lorraine ), † April 12, 1817 in Paris) was a French astronomer. He worked among other things as an astronomer of the French Navy and later in the Bureau des Longitudes, and is considered the discoverer of 20 comets. In addition, he created the Messier catalog later named after him Directory of astronomical objects such as galaxies, star clusters and nebulae.
Life
Messier was born in 1730 in Badonviller, the capital of the Principality of Salm, the tenth of twelve children of administration officials Nicolas Messier. He came from a wealthy family. Six of his siblings died even as children. His interest in astronomy was sparked in 1744 when he was able to observe the great six - tailed comet Klinkenberg. He took 21 years to Paris and was hired by the astronomers of the Navy, Nicholas Delisle. In 1754 he became a clerk in the Navy, where he had to draw, including a map. Delisle taught him the basics of astronomy and stopped him to make use of all observations accurate position information. From 1764 he devoted himself mainly to search for comets. He corresponded with experts in England, Germany and Russia. 1770, at the age of 40, he married Marie -Françoise de Vermauchampt. Eighteen months later, his wife and their son died eleven days after his birth.
1771 he was appointed astronomer of the Navy and thus the successor of Delisle. Ten years later, he suffered serious injuries in a fall from which he slowly recovered with its already 51 years. During the French Revolution, he lost his position and impoverished. In 1796 he was, however, a position in the Bureau des Longitudes. 1806 Napoleon gave him the cross of the Legion of Honour. As his eyesight waned, he watched more and more rare. The last comet, which he has seen ( with the help of others ), was the " Great Comet " of 1807, 1815, he suffered a stroke. ; two years later he died in Paris in very high for his age of almost 87 years.
Discoveries
Since 1757 he sought on behalf of Delisle already expected Halley 's comet, found him due to a calculation error of Delisle but only in January 1759 so that four weeks after the re-discovery by Johann Georg Palitzsch. 1761, he observed the transit of Venus, and three years later he succeeded the first discovery of a comet. Overall him go up to the year 1801 20 discoveries, including 14 stand-alone and six co - discoveries. In his search for new comets, he came across a variety of other objects such as galaxies, star clusters or nebulae. The first of these structures - later known as Messier 1 or M1 - he had already observed in 1758. To facilitate his work, he sought for specific additional copies. He also used the catalogs of Edmond Halley, Nicolas Louis de Lacaille, Jacopo Filippo Maraldi and Jean -Baptiste Le Gentil.
Finally, he listed these first 45 objects in the Messier catalog named after him, whose first version was published in 1771. In 1774, Jérôme Lalande made , at that time, known leading astronomer of France with him Pierre Méchain. This led to a fruitful collaboration. Already in 1780 the catalog had grown to 68 entries. In September 1782 Méchain discovered the 107 Messier object. From then on, turned his search for a Messier other nebulae and refocused on comets - probably because William Herschel had begun with his superior device his observations. The latest version of his catalog was published in 1781 Connaissance des temps for the year 1784.
Messier used a number of very different telescopes, including telescopes with focal lengths of up to seven meters and reflectors with mirror diameters of up to 20 cm opening.
Honors
Messier was a member of a variety of scientific academies, including from England, Sweden, Germany, France and Russia. The lunar crater Messier and an asteroid named after him. The Messier Channel, a strait in southern Chile between the huge Wellington Island and the mainland, also bears his name.