| French amateurs Charles Messier and Jean-Louis Pons and American
amateurs E.E. Barnard and W.R. Brooks are legendary figures in comet hunting. Messier was
such a dedicated comet hunter that he made a list of all nebulosities that looked like
comets, in order not to be confused by them. Today he is better known for this catalogue
of Messier objects that include the supernova remnant Crab nebula and the galaxy Andromeda
than for the comets he discovered! E.E. Barnard built a comet house for his bride financed
entirely by the many $200 Warner prizes he won for discovering comets. Brooks was still
discovering and photographing comets at the age of 79 when he died in 1921! In the past
fifty years besides Shoemaker and Levy, the Japanese amateurs Ikeya, Seki and Hyakutake
have been keen comet hunters. |
Charles Messier
|
