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出生於法國的夏爾．梅西爾（1730-1817），憑著他著名的《梅西爾星團星雲列表》成為現今天文界無人不知的天文學家。梅西爾於年青時曾親眼目睹1744年的大彗星，從此便夢想搜尋他自己的彗星。1751年他獲聘為法國海軍天文台天文官的副手，順利踏出實現夢想的第一步。苦於在搜索彗星的過程中，很容易被其他模糊的天體混淆，梅西爾從1764年初便開始製作一份星際間朦朧天體的列表，從1771年至1784年間，他先後共發表了3卷《梅西爾星團星雲列表》。20世紀初歷史學家從梅西爾的觀測記錄中發現了7個從未被表列的天體，這7個天體最終被編進新的《梅西爾星表》，成為M104至M110。梅西爾一生共發現了20顆彗星，其中13顆屬首次被發現，路易十五亦因此稱他為「我的獵彗人」。
A comet hunter
Charles Messier (1730–1817) was a French astronomer most notable for publishing a catalogue of nebulae and clusters. After witnessing the great 1774 comet, the young Messier became indulged in finding one himself. Frustrated by interference from fuzzy blurs that weren't comets during his search, Messier decided to compile a catalogue of such objects. Between 1771 and 1784, he published three versions of his Catalogue of Nebulae and Star Clusters. The Catalogue was later supplemented with 7 uncatalogued objects uncovered from Messier's observation records. During his lifetime Messier discovered 20 comets, 13 of which were original and were credited to him. For this reason Louis XV, famously called him "my little comet ferret." ■甄枝強 資深天文愛好者 ■圖片來源：John Lanoue
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