Charles Messier
Messier, Charles
Born June 26, 1730, in Badonviller; died Apr. 12, 1817, in Paris. French astronomer. Member of the Paris Academy of Sciences (1770).
Messier carried out systematic searches for new comets, and between 1763 and 1802 he discovered 14 comets, including the 1770 I short-period comet, now called Lexel’s comet. In 1781 he compiled a catalog of nebulae and star clusters containing 103 objects.