Editing Charles Messier (section)

==Biography==
Messier was born in [[Badonviller]] in the [[Lorraine]] region of [[Kingdom of France|France]], in 1730, the tenth of twelve children of Françoise B. Grandblaise and Nicolas Messier, a [[Court usher]]. Six of his brothers and sisters died while young, and his father died in 1741. Charles' interest in astronomy was stimulated by the appearance of the [[Great Comet of 1744|great six-tailed comet in 1744]] and by an annular [[solar eclipse]] visible from his hometown on 25&nbsp;July 1748.

In 1751, Messier entered the employ of [[Joseph Nicolas Delisle]], the astronomer of the [[French Navy]], who instructed him to keep careful records of his observations. Messier's first documented observation was that of the [[Transit of Mercury|Mercury transit]] of 6&nbsp;May 1753, followed by his observations journals at [[Musée de Cluny|Cluny Hotel]] and at the French Navy observatories.

In 1764, Messier was made a fellow of the [[Royal Society]]; in 1769, he was elected a foreign member of the [[Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]]; and on 30&nbsp;June 1770, he was elected to the [[French Academy of Sciences]]. He was given the nickname "Ferret of Comets" by [[King Louis XV]].<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Jakiel |first=Richard |date=February 2017 |title=The Obsessive Comet Hunter |magazine=Astronomy |url=https://astronomy.com/magazine/2019/08/the-obsessive-comet-hunter}}</ref>

Messier discovered 13 comets:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.comethunter.de/cat2002/com_disc.txt |first=Maik |last=Meyer |title=Catalog of comet discoveries |access-date=15 May 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080716110006/http://www.comethunter.de/cat2002/com_disc.txt |archive-date=16 July 2008}}</ref>
* C/1760 B1 (Messier)
* C/1763 S1 (Messier)
* C/1764 A1 (Messier)
* C/1766 E1 (Messier)
* [[C/1769 P1]] (Messier)
* [[D/1770 L1]] ([[Anders Johan Lexell|Lexell]])
* C/1771 G1 (Messier)
* C/1773 T1 (Messier)
* C/1780 U2 (Messier)
* [[C/1785 A1]] (Messier–[[Pfierre Méchain|Méchain]])
* C/1788 W1 (Messier)
* C/1793 S2 (Messier)
* C/1798 G1 (Messier)

[[File:Tomb of Messier in Pere Lachaise, Sept 2011.jpg|thumb|right|Messier's grave in [[Père Lachaise Cemetery|Père Lachaise]]]]
He also co-discovered comet [[C/1801 N1]] (Pons), a discovery shared with several other observers including [[Jean-Louis Pons|Pons]], Méchain, and Bouvard.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Ni4BAAAQBAJ&q=messier-pons+1801&pg=PA83|title=Blazing a Ghostly Trail: ISON and Great Comets of the Past and Future|last=Grego|first=Peter|date=19 October 2013|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=9783319017754|language=en}}</ref> 

Near the end of his life, Messier self-published a booklet connecting the great comet of 1769 to the birth of [[Napoleon]], who was in power at the time of publishing. According to [[Maik Meyer]]:<ref>{{cite book |author=Meyer, Maik |title=Charles Messier, Napoleon, and Comet C/1769&nbsp;P1 |year=2007 |page=3 |url=http://www.icq.eps.harvard.edu/meyer_icq29_3t6.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141018151421/http://www.icq.eps.harvard.edu/meyer_icq29_3t6.pdf |archive-date=18 October 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{quotation| As hard as it may seem to accept, the memoir is an ingratiation to Napoleon in order to receive attention and monetary support. It is full of servility and opportunism. Messier did not even refrain from utilizing astrology to reach his goal. Messier comes quickly to the point on the first page of the memoir, by stating that the beginning of the epoch of Napoleon the Great ... coincides with the discovery of one of the greatest comets ever observed.}}

Messier is buried in [[Père Lachaise Cemetery]] in the [[20th arrondissement of Paris|20th arrondissement]] of Paris.