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 background stars — so he published a list of objects to avoid while comet hunting. The list includes diffuse nebulae, planetary nebulae, openContinue reading “Observing Basics: What Messier missed”

The post Observing Basics: What Messier missed appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

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