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.

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 ...

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - “When I was a kid, my cousin showed me Saturn from a telescope when I was young and that got me hooked.” Tom Weber, the President of the Cedar Amateur Astronomers recalled.

Messier 18 was discovered and catalogued in 1764 by Charles Messier — for whom the Messier Objects are named — during his search for comet-like objects. It lies within the Milky Way, approximately ...

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This Hubble Picture of the Week shows the spiral galaxy Messier 98, which is located about 45 million light-years away in the constellation of Coma Berenices (Berenice’s Hair). It was discovered in ...