Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun astronomy : A
catalog number used to name and record approximately 100galaxies ,nebulae , and other objects visible in the night sky that are notstars . Objects inMessier's catalog of Nebulae and Star Clusters are numbered, and the letter M (for Messier) is prepended to these numbers, as inM31 (the Andromeda Galaxy) orM13 (the globular cluster in Hercules).
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Charles Messier (1730-1817), who first published Nebulae and Star Clusters in 1780 as a listing of visible objects in the night sky that were not stars. Objects in Messier's catalog are numbered, and the letter M (for Messier) is prepended to these numbers.
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