Back in the late 18th and early 19th centuries — long before anyone had any real idea of all that lay out there among the stars — a French astronomer spent his nights scouring the sky for his prey.

Centuries before other galaxies were known to exist, astronomers called them “spiral nebulas.” Today the defunct term still ...

The author, a writer with interests in astronomy and history, acquired a seven-volume set of Pierre Gassendi's works, signed and bookplated by Charles Messier in 1756. The acquired set includes ...

During the month of July, the 46th Lights for Peace flag to fly at the Fort Taber - Fort Rodman Military Museum honors the memory of Joseph “Charles” Messier, formerly of Fairhaven who passed away ...

On Oct. 13, 1773, a French astronomer named Charles Messier discovered the "whirlpool galaxy," also known as Messier 51, or M51. Charles Messier was scanning the sky for objects that could confuse ...

In 1781, French astronomer Charles Messier published a catalog of 103 objects in the heavens. He was primarily interested in comets, but kept finding fuzzy smudges that did not move against the ...

Thanks to eighteenth-century astronomer Charles Messier, amateur stargazing can be a marathon experience. Over the course of his life, Messier catalogued 110 deep-sky objects such as nebulae, galaxies ...

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Messier 83, also known as the Southern Pinwheel galaxy, is one of the most prominent spiral galaxies in the night sky. It's named for its resemblance to the Pinwheel galaxy and spans around 50,000 ...

This new image of the rose-coloured star forming region Messier 17 was captured by the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. It is one of the ...

Joseph Charles Messier, 101, formerly of Fairhaven passed away Sunday, April 9, 2023 at the Royal Nursing Center in Falmouth. He was the loving husband of the late Mary (Borges) Messier. Born and ...