RGranddad explores the astronomer Charles Messier and his catalog…..
Over the last few days I have added a boatload of ancestors of my fifth great-grandfather Samuel Johnson and his wife Antje Anney Brower I have taken both of their family lines back to the early 1600s in New York. Anyway, as I was looking over events that happened on January 31st this one from 1779. Samuel would have turned 19 that year. The event was Charles Messier’s addition of M57 (Ring Nebula in Lyra) to his catalog. Since I didn’t know who Charles Messier was or what his catalog was I set out to find out about them! (P.S. I do know what a ring nebula is). I am always amazed at what the early astronomers were able to accomplish 300 plus years ago!) From Wikipedia…..
Charles Messier ( 26 June 1730 – 12 April 1817) was a French astronomer most notable for publishing an astronomical catalogue consisting of nebulae and star clusters that came to be known as the 110 “Messier objects”. The purpose of the catalogue was to help astronomical observers, in particular comet hunters such as himself, distinguish between permanent and transient visually diffuse objects in the sky.
As for the catalog…..
….The final version of the catalogue was published in 1781, in the 1784 issue of Connaissance des Temps.[5][6] 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 objects that were observed either by Messier or by Méchain, shortly after the final version was published. These seven objects, M104 through M110, are accepted by astronomers as “official” Messier objects. Read More
and now a little about the Ring Nebula cataloged as M57 on this date in 1779…..
The Ring Nebula (also catalogued as Messier 57, M57 or NGC 6720) is a planetary nebula in the northern constellation of Lyra.[5] Such objects are formed when a shell of ionized gas is expelled into the surrounding interstellar medium by a red giant star, which was passing through the last stage in its evolution before becoming a white dwarf.
This nebula was discovered by the French astronomer Antoine Darquier de Pellepoix in January 1779, who reported that it was “…as large as Jupiter and resembles a planet which is fading”. Later the same month, fellow French astronomer Charles Messier independently found the same nebula while searching for comets. It was then entered into his catalogue as the 57th object. Messier and German-born astronomer William Herschel speculated that the nebula was formed by multiple faint stars that were unresolvable with his telescope.
You can read more about Charles Messier and other famous astronomers at Space.com – Famous Astronomers | List of Great Scientists in Astronomy.
Also check out the Greenhawk Observatory to see some great pictures of some of the nebulae and star clusters from Messier’s catalog and more about the catalog :About the Messier Catalog Greenberg Companion.
