Charles Messier was a French astronomer who lived from 1730 to 1817. His favorite pastime was searching for comets in the night sky. He was quite successful, discovering a total of 13 comets in his lifetime—an impressive number considering he used only a 4-inch refractor in downtown Paris. While searching in vain for Halley’s Comet, which was expected to appear near the constellation Taurus, Messier came across an object he initially mistook for the comet. However, he soon realized that it did not move against the night sky as a comet would. He had, in fact, re-discovered the Crab Nebula—now […]
Monthly Archives: March 2025
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Despite some thin clouds messing with our view at the start of the night, the skies opened just before the starting phases. Totality lasted for just over an hour, with the partial phase ending just before 5AM. Five members attended, including a couple of guests during the night. The last total lunar eclipse visible here was in November 2022, with the next being in June 2029. A great time was had by all attended. The gallery will update with more photos as time goes on.