Charles Messier: Quick Facts

News •

Hubble learns galactic history from stars • Nov. 5, 2026, 3:00 PM ET (Phys.org)

Facts

Born June 26, 1730 • France
Died April 12, 1817 (aged 86) • Paris • France
Subjects Of Study M15 • M3 • globular cluster • nebula • star • star cluster

William Herschel
William Herschel
British-German astronomer
Arthur Stanley Eddington.
Arthur Eddington
British scientist
John Herschel
Sir John Herschel, 1st Baronet
English astronomer
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Harlow Shapley
American astronomer
Otto Heckmann at the European Southern Observatory's (ESO's) one-metre Schmidt telescope at La Silla, Chile, 1971.
Otto Heckmann
German astronomer
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Frank Schlesinger
American astronomer
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Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn
Dutch astronomer
William Wallace Campbell
William Wallace Campbell
American astronomer
Orion
Johann Bayer
German astronomer
Lacaille, detail from an engraving
Nicolas Louis de Lacaille
French astronomer
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Félix Tisserand
French astronomer
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Claude-Louis Mathieu
French astronomer and mathematician
Engraving of six astronomers, with Hipparchus seated at center and, from left to right, Galileo, Johannes Hevelius, Tycho Brahe, Nicolaus Copernicus, and Ptolemy standing, each holding scientific instruments.
Hipparchus
Greek astronomer
How did Ptolemy explain retrograde motion?
Ptolemy
Egyptian astronomer, mathematician, and geographer
Painting of Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe wearing a black robe with a white ruffled collar and a gold chain necklace with a large pendant.
Tycho Brahe
Danish astronomer
Edmond Halley
Edmond Halley
British scientist
Edwin Hubble
Edwin Hubble
American astronomer
Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel
Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel
German astronomer
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Eudoxus of Cnidus
Greek mathematician and astronomer
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin
British-born American astronomer