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Charles Messier a French astronomer, published an astronomical catalogue consisting of deep sky objects such as nebulae and star clusters that came to be known as the 103 "Messier objects".

It was published in 1774.

The purpose of the catalogue was to help astronomical observers, in particular comet hunters such as himself, distinguish between permanent and transient objects in the sky.

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Interestingly enough, Messier wasn't interested in any of that stuff; Messier was a comet hunter. His catalogue was of "objects that look a little like comets but aren't". His catalogue was designed so that he wouldn't waste time looking at these non-comet objects in his telescope.

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15y ago

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