His Catalogue
The first version of Messier's catalogue contained 45 objects and was published in 1774 in the journal of the French Academy of Sciences in Paris. The final version of the catalogue was published in 1781, in Connoissance des Temps for 1784. The final list of Messier objects had grown to 103.
On several occasions between 1921 and 1966, astronomers and historians discovered evidence of another seven deep-sky objects that were observed either by Messier or his friend and assistant, Pierre Méchain, shortly after the final version was published. These seven objects, M104 through M110, are accepted by astronomers as "official" Messier objects.
The objects' Messier designations, from M1 to M110, still are in use by professional and amateur astronomers today.
The catalogue is not organized scientifically by object type, or even by location as the later New General Catalogue would be. On the other hand, the Messier catalogue comprises nearly all the most spectacular examples of the five types of deep sky object – diffuse nebulae, planetary nebulae, open clusters, globular clusters and galaxies – visible from European latitudes. Because these objects could be observed visually with the relatively small-aperture refracting telescope (approximately 100 mm, or four inches) used by Messier to study the sky, they are among the brightest and therefore most attractive deep sky objects observable from earth, and are among the most popular targets for visual study and photography available to modern amateur astronomers using larger aperture equipment. Furthermore, almost all of the Messier objects are among the closest to our planet in their respective classes, which makes them heavily studied with professional class instruments that today can resolve very small and visually spectacular details in them.
At least 20 of the objects in the Messier catalogue were discovered by his assistant, Pierre Méchain.
The crater Messier on the Moon and the asteroid 7359 Messier were named in his honor.
Read more about this topic: Charles Messier
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