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.

The Messier catalog contains more than 100 of the most remarkable sights in the heavens. (Creators.com illustration) At this time of year, early evening stargazers can tour one of the richest pieces ...

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 ...

The Messier marathon is an activity that’s been popular with astronomy clubs since the 1980s. It’s a test of endurance and skill to view each of the 109 deep-sky objects in French comet-hunter Charles ...

From the Science page of The Post-Standard: "During the years from 1758 to 1782 Charles Messier, a French astronomer (1730 - 1817), compiled a list of approximately 100 diffuse objects that were ...

image: This luminous orb is the galaxy NGC 4621, better known as Messier 59. As this latter moniker indicates, the galaxy is listed in the famous catalog of deep-sky objects compiled by French ...