梅西耶生平简介

交作业了……高考已矣，闲来翻译翻译Don Machholz的<The Observing Guide to the Messier Marathon>
高中三年瞎忙，没做过翻译，头次动手，还望众高手指教！一些不清楚的地方，我都打在下面，请大家帮忙检查一下
再过几天就是梅西耶280周年诞辰了，梅西耶一直是我挺喜欢的一个天文学家，权作纪念！

梅西耶 1730~1817

第一章 查尔斯·梅西耶

I查尔斯·梅西耶生活工作在可视天文学的重要发展时期。他是最早的彗星观测者之一，在四十年的时间里发现了许多新彗星，而且记录了他观测生涯中几乎每一个可见的彗星。

II他的彗星观测使他获得了对夜空的广泛知识，使他有机会去总结一部关于星系、星云、星团的总表。这部被称为梅西耶总表的天文奇景列表，成为了同类总表中最流行的一部。它包括了许多夜空中最明亮的天体，当然，一百一十个目标已经够少了，以至于今日的一个初学的业余天文学家也可以在一晚上把它们全部找到，或者几乎全部找到。

III查尔斯生于1730年6月26日，出生地在法国的Lorraine，是十二个孩子中的第十个。他十一岁时父亲去世，三年后，在1744年，年轻的梅西耶观测到了壮丽的多尾1744彗星。十八岁生日后的一个月，即1748年7月，他在家乡观测到了一次日环食。在1751年10月，梅西耶去巴黎寻找新的生活。在那儿，他的书法和文字功底使他在Cluny旅馆的小天文台里得到了一份记录员的工作。他的早期任务包括复制中国长城的地图和那时一个被称为Pekin的城市的地图。其他的工作包括调查制作当地的地图，记录日出日落和整理气象数据。他的雇主，约瑟夫·尼古拉斯·迪利塞尔（Joseph Nicholas Delisle），给了他“海军储藏室职员”的职位。

IV随着时间的推移，梅西耶能够熟练地运用天文台里的各种望远镜来获取记录天体的准确位置。他的第一次有文件记载的观测是1753年5月6日的水星凌日。1757年，他开始寻找被预测将要回归的哈雷彗星。他的搜索基于迪利塞尔对彗星可能出现位置的计算，使用的是一部焦距1.5m的反射式望远镜。这部望远镜物镜的直径大约为200mm，但是，由于是金属磨制的，反射的光线很少，成像不如人意。

V正是这段时间，即1758年，查尔斯想到要编纂他著名的天体总表。在他观察当年的另一颗彗星时，他指出了这颗彗星和附近一个星云的强烈相似。这一天体，现在被称做蟹状星云，在27年前被约翰·白维斯（John Bevis）发现。于是梅西耶想到，一张包括位置和描述的这种类彗星天体总表能帮助防止将它们与真实的彗星混淆。

VI同时，梅西耶还在继续他对哈雷彗星的搜索，但他不知道此时迪利塞尔的计算已经出错，正在误导他的观测。在1758年的圣诞夜，一个德国业余天文学家，约翰·帕里兹奇（Johann Palitzch）成为发现哈雷彗星的第一人。梅西耶在四周后的1759年1月21日发现了哈雷彗星，但梅西耶发现哈雷彗星的消息被迪利塞尔封杀直至4月1日，距离哈雷彗星在夜空隐没和在黎明重现已经过去了很久。直至现在，迪利塞尔为什么没有迅速地公开梅西耶的发现依然是个谜，但事实的结果是梅西耶宣布他在十周前发现哈雷彗星的声明招致了广泛的怀疑。梅西耶日后写道：声明的推迟是我一生中最大的遗憾之一。

VII约翰·帕里兹奇没有再发现其他彗星，但梅西耶继续观测直至1801年，当时他已经发现或与他人共同发现了20颗彗星。这些彗星的发现给梅西耶带来了声望和荣誉，同时带来的还有透过望远镜观察夜空的愉悦。

VIII梅西耶在他的观测生涯中用了不止20个望远镜，1757-9年间，为了观测哈雷彗星他使用了一架200mm反射镜，他在天文台中也用到了其他器材，包括一架物理直径100mm，焦距1100mm，放大率120倍的反射镜。这架望远镜是他最喜爱的器材，在他的观测中使用甚多。

IX表1.1列出了由梅西耶第一次发现的13颗彗星，其中的一个，里克塞尔（Lexell），是由梅西耶发现的，但用的是轨道计算者安德斯·里克塞尔（Anders Lexell）的名字命名。这个特别的彗星周期比较短，它在1779年离木星过近，而改变了轨道，于是从此消失。

X表1.2包括了七个补充的彗星，它们是在被其他人发现后的较短时间内即被梅西耶发现的。根据现今的规定，一个彗星之多可以以三个发现者的名字命名，前提是他们各自独立的发现是在第一个人发现后的较短时间内完成的。根据上述规定似乎没有一颗表中的彗星应该以梅西耶的名字命名。对于其中四个例子，经过的时间过长。对其中两个，几乎同时的发现者过多，以致指定一个单独的发现者是不可能的。在这种情况下，如果彗星显得大而明亮，它就被命名为“大彗星（great comet）”。在最后一个例子中，同一晚上出现了若干个独立的，像梅西耶一样的发现者，但他们都比庞斯（Pons）晚了一天，这也是他发现的第一颗彗星。

XI对梅西耶彗星发现的研究可以让我们对他的彗星搜寻工作有一个深入了解。很有趣的是，他所发现的20颗彗星中，7颗是在1月发现的，虽然巴黎云最多的月份、巴黎降水日最多（20天）的月份和巴黎气温最低的月份都是一月。他看起来似乎等可能地扫过黎明和夜晚的天空，虽然早间发现的彗星比晚间看起来要长一些。这件事究竟是出于观测（或是睡觉！）的习惯还是地平线高度的不同造成的，我们不得而知。他也不畏惧扫过银河，即使大量的星体和星云可能会遮蔽住新彗星。他也从不畏惧那些含有星系的区域。身处北纬48.8，他从北极点一直艰难地搜寻到南纬20度的范围上。

XII在表1.3中我们可以看到在彗星观测的领域里梅西耶一生所取得的巨大成就。他的大多数彗星是在他开始搜寻的前十五年里发现的，但几乎半数天体总表里的天体是在这之后记录的，即1778~1781年间。

XIII查尔斯·梅西耶在他生平年间获得了许多荣誉。1763年1月，他差了一点没有入选法国皇家科学院。1764年12月，他成为了伦敦皇家学会的外籍院士。他也被选为俄罗斯科学院院士。1769年，他获得了柏林科学院院士资格。1771年，他最终被选入巴黎科学院。至此，他也同时是海军天文学者，Cluny天文台的台长，皇家科学院的一个成员。1785~1790年他占据了法国杂志《天文知识（原文为法语：Connaissance des Temps）》的编辑职务。1806年他接受了拿破仑的十字勋章。这些荣誉都是对他细致的彗星搜寻、彗星观测和星云总表的认可。

XIV1770年11月26日，查尔斯·梅西耶迎娶了来自Vermanchampt的玛丽·弗朗塞斯（Marie Francoise）。他们是在梅西耶来到巴黎后的短时间内相识的。1772年3月15日，她生下一名男婴（安东尼·查尔斯 Antoine Charles），但在11天后即夭折。梅西耶的妻子先于他三天去世，即在1772年3月23日。

XV1781年11月6日，梅西耶遭受了一次从8m高的地方坠入冰窖的事故。幸好这件事发生在白天而不是晚上，所以被及时报告。这件事造成了他的重伤，梅西耶不得不停止观测一年。他第一次回到天文台是1782年11月9日观测水星凌日。可能这次凌日使他记起了他的第一次正式观测：29年前的一次水星凌日。

XVI18世纪的最后十年，法国陷入了政治动荡，科学事业被愈发忽视。站在执政者对立面的人无不遭到打击，梅西耶所作的观测也越来越少。

XVII晚年的梅西耶先是独居，后来又和他的姐妹和兄弟生活。他们去世后，他和一个孀居的表亲一起生活。1815年他罹患中风，两年后并发积水，病危数日在1817年4月11/12日的夜晚去世，享年87岁。

几处有疑问的原文（依次按文中标注顺序）

1、第三段 His father died when he was eleven. Three years later, in early 1744, the young Charles observed the brilliant multi-tailed comet of 1744.

2、第六段
News of Messier’s find was withheld by Delisle until April 1, long after the comet faded into the evening sky and reappeared in the morning sky.

3、第十一段
He seemed to sweep equally the morning and evening sky, with the morning comets found at a greater elongation than those found in the evening sky.

4、第十一段
From his latitude of +48.8 degrees, he searched from the North Pole to roughly -20 degree declination.

附表：

Table 1.1. Comets discovered by and credited to Charles Messier.

The comet designation and comet name are followed by the discovery date, with

the month followed by the day and year. The position is in 2000 coordinates and

indicates the position of the comet at discovery. The magnitude is the brightness

of the comet when found. Elongation is the number of degrees the comet was

from the sun as seen from the Earth. Next we see if the comet was found in the

morning or evening sky. The instrument indicated is either a telescope (T) or the

unaided eye (U).

Comet Comet name Disc. date RA Decl. El. Mag. Sky Inst.

C/1760 B1 Messier 01/26/1760 10:56 -15.8 133 5.5 M T

C/1763 S1 Messier 09/29/1763 16:28 -6.0 59 5.0 E T

C/1764 A1 Messier 01/04/1764 15:47 +57.7 91 3.0 M U

C/1766 E1 Messier 03/09/1766 1:23 +16.2 34 6.0 E T

C/1769 P1 Messier 08/09/1769 2:27 +13.0 101 5.5 M T

D/1770 L1 Lexell 06/15/1770 18:25 -16.6 169 7.0 E T

C/1771 G1 Messier 04/02/1771 2:48 -21.3 31 4.5 E U

C/1773 T1 Messier 10/13/1773 10:27 +5.5 47 4.5 M T

C/1780 U2 Messier 10/27/1780 11:49 +12.9 46 7.0 M T

C/1785 A1 Messier–Mechain 01/08/1785 2:20 +5.3 103 6.5 E T

C/1788 W1 Messier 11/26/1788 11:19 +46.3 96 6.0 M T

C/1793 S2 Messier 09/28/1793 16:21 +13.9 60 6.0 E T

C/1798 G1 Messier 04/13/1798 3:30 +24.2 31 6.0 E T

Table 1.2. Comets independently discovered by Charles Messier.

The comet designation and comet name are followed by Messier’s discovery date.

The position, magnitude and elongation are for the time Messier found the

comet. ‘Sky’ indicates morning or evening sky, and ‘Late’ denotes the number of

days Messier’s find followed the original discovery.

Comet Comet name Disc. date RA Decl. Mag. El. Sky Late

C/1758 K1 De la Nux 08/14/1758 5:40 +28.5 7.0 160 M 80

P/1758 Y1 Halley 01/21/1759 23:43 +3.0 3.0 153 E 27

C/1760 A1 Great Comet 01/08/1760 7:57 -17.6 2.0 140 M 1

D/1766 G1 Helfenzrieder 04/08/1766 2:50 +26.0 2.5 127 E 7

C/1771 A1 Great Comet 01/10/1771 8:41 +3.2 5.0 156 M 1

C/1779 A1 Bode 01/19/1779 19:27 +29.8 5.0 151 E 13

C/1801 N1 Pons 07/12/1801 6:45 +72.3 6.5 151 M 1

Table 1.3 Comets discovered during each five-year interval, 1758–1802.

The total number of comets discovered is given for each five-year period. The

number discovered by Messier also includes his independent finds. The number

found by others includes the seven comets which Messier found independently

that do not bear his name, plus the one bearing his name along with Mechain’s

(1785 A1).

Years #Found #By Messier #By others Other discoverers

1758–1762  5  4  4 Klinkenberg

1763–1767  4  4  1 Helfenzrieder

1768–1772  5  4  1 Montaigne

1773–1777  2  1  1 Montaigne

1778–1782  5  2  4 Bode, Mechain

1783–1787  7  1  7 Mechain, C. Herschel

1788–1792  6  1  5 C. Herschel

1793–1797  6  1  5 C. Herschel

1798–1802  6  2  5 Mechain, Pons

Total  46 20 33

原文：

Charles Messier lived and worked during a pivotal point in visual astronomical history. He was one of the first comet hunters, discovering new comets over a span of four decades, and recording nearly every observable comet during his career.

His comet hunting resulted in an extensive knowledge of the night sky, enabling him to organize a catalog of galaxies, clusters and nebulae. This list of heavenly wonders, known as the Messier Catalogue, has become one of the most popular lists of its kind. It includes many of the brightest and best-known objects in the night sky. Yet the 110 marvels are few enough that even the beginning amateur astronomer of today can find them all, or nearly all, of them in one night.

Born on June 26, 1730, in Lorraine, France, Charles was the tenth of twelve children. His father died when he was eleven. Three years later, in early 1744, the young Charles observed the brilliant multi-tailed comet of 1744. A month after his eighteenth birthday, in July 1748, he observed an annular solar eclipse from his home town. In October 1751 he went to Paris in search of a new life. His skill in penmanship and drafting landed him employment as a record keeper at a small observatory at the Hotel de Cluny. One of his first tasks was copying maps of the Great Wall of China and of the City of what was then called Pekin. Other duties included surveying making maps of the local area, recording sunspots and compiling meteorological data. His employer, Joseph Nicholas Delisle, gave Messier the position of ‘Depot Clerk of the Navy’.

As time went on, Messier was trained to use various telescopes at the observatory to obtain and record exact positions of heavenly bodies. His first documented observation was of the planet Mercury’s transit of the sun on May 6, 1753. By 1757 he was searching for a comet famously predicted to return by Edmond Halley. His search was based on Delisle’s calculations of the comet’s likely position, and was carried out with a 1.5 meter focal length reflector. The diameter of the telescope’s mirror was about 0.2 meter, but, being made of metal, it reflected little light and gave poor images.

It was during this period, in 1758, that Messier conceived of his now famous celestial catalog. While tracking yet another comet of that year, Messier noted a strong resemblance between this comet and a nearby nebula. This object, now known as the Crab Nebula, had been discovered twenty-seven years earlier by John Bevis. It occurred to Messier that a catalog giving positions and descriptions of such comet look-alikes would help prevent confusing them with the real thing.

Meanwhile, Messier continued his quest for Halley’s Comet, not knowing at the time that Delisle’s calculations were flawed and were misdirecting his search. On Christmas night, 1758, an amateur astronomer in Germany, Johann Palitzch, was the first to find Halley’s Comet. Messier would find it nearly four weeks later, on January 21, 1759. News of Messier’s find was withheld by Delisle until April 1, long after the comet faded into the evening sky and reappeared in the morning sky. It is not known why Delisle failed to publish Messier’s observation in a timely manner, but the practical result was general skepticism of Messier’s claim to have found the comet ten weeks earlier. Messier later wrote that the delay in the announcement was one of the biggest disappointments in his life.

Johann Palitzch found no more comets, but Messier continued searching until, by 1801, he had discovered or co-discovered twenty comets. These comet discoveries brought Messier fame and distinction, along with allowing him the pleasure of viewing the night sky through a telescope.

Messier used more than a dozen telescopes during his observing career. To search for Halley’s Comet in 1757–9 he used a reflector with a mirror of about 0.2 meter diameter. He had access to other instruments in the observatory, including a refractor with a lens of about 10 cm, a focal length of 1.1 meter, and a magnification of 120. This refractor seemed to be his favorite instrument, and was used for much of his observing.

Table 1.1 lists the thirteen comets that were discovered first by Charles Messier. One, Comet Lexell, was discovered by Messier, but carries the name of the orbit calculator, Anders Lexell. This particular comet had a short orbital period until it passed too close to Jupiter in 1779. This changed the orbit, and the comet is now lost.

Table 1.2 includes seven additional comets found by Messier shortly after other discoverers found them. Under present regulations, a comet can carry the names of as many as three discoverers if their verified independent discovery is made shortly after the original find. According to these rules it seems unlikely that any of these comets would also bear Messier’s name. In four cases too much time had elapsed. In two more there were so many nearly simultaneous discoveries that assigning credit to a single observer was impossible. In such cases, the comets, appearing quite bright and spectacular, were called ‘Great Comets’. In the final case there were several independent discoveries on the same night as Messier’s, one night after Pons found this, his first, comet.

A look at Charles Messier’s comet discoveries can give us an insight into his comet-hunting activities. It is interesting to note that seven of his twenty finds were made during January. This was despite the fact that in Paris the cloudiest months are December and January; and January has the greatest number of days of precipitation (twenty) and the coldest temperatures. He seemed to sweep equally the morning and evening sky, with the morning comets found at a greater elongation than those found in the evening sky. Whether this was caused by his sweeping (or sleeping!) habits, or from horizon height differences, we do not know. He was also not afraid to sweep through the Milky Way, where many stars and nebulae tend to mask new comets; nor did he shy away from areas containing galaxies. From his latitude of _48.8 degrees, he searched from the North Pole to roughly 20 degree declination.

In Table 1.3 we take a look at the significance that Messier played in the field of comet hunting during his lifetime. Most of his comets were found in his first fifteen years of searching, while nearly half of the objects listed in his Catalogue were recorded sometime later, between 1778 and 1781 (Table 1.4).

Charles Messier received many awards during his lifetime. In January 1763 he barely missed being elected to the French Academie Royale des Sciences. On December 6, 1764, he became a foreign member of the Royal Society of London. He was also elected member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 1769 he earned membership in the Berlin Academy of Sciences. In 1771, he was finally elected to the Paris Academy of Sciences. By then he was also Astronomer of the Navy, Director of the Observatory at Cluny, and a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences. From 1785 to 1790 he held the post of editor of the French journal Connaissance des Temps. In 1806 he received the Order of the Cross from Napoleon. These honors were all in recognition of his careful comet hunting, comet observing, and his cataloging of nebulae.

On November 26, 1770, Charles Messier married Marie- Francoise de Vermauchampt. They had met shortly after Messier arrived in Paris. On March 15, 1772, she gave birth to a son (Antoine- Charles), who died at the age of eleven days. Messier’s wife died three days earlier, on March 23, 1772.

On November 6, 1781, Messier suffered an 8 meter fall into an ice cellar. This occurred during the daytime, not at night as some have reported. Severe injuries resulted, and Messier was sidelined for nearly a year. His first return to the observatory was to observe the transit of the sun by the planet Mercury on November 9, 1782. Perhaps this transit brought back memories of his first official observation, the transit of Mercury twenty-nine years earlier.

During the last decade of the eighteenth century, France was in political turmoil. Science became less important, and those who were politically on the wrong side of the establishment suffered. Messier did less and less observing.

In later years Messier lived by himself, then with his sister and his brother. After they passed away, he lived with a widowed niece, and in 1815 he suffered a stroke. Two years later he contacted dropsy, and after an illness of only a few days, he died on the night of April 11/12, 1817, at the age of eighty-seven.

好，看完了~~~

。。。第一眼我看成了“梅西”简介。。。。哈哈！！！

楼主，原始文档何在啊？有原始文档，再编辑得条理好些，就可以大幅加分甚至加精了。
现在先加分吧。

“它是最早的彗星观测者之一”，这类笔误一定要避免，很简单，写完后再自己读一遍就可以了。
Pekin是北京啊，楼主这个应该知道吧。
early 1744，在1744年初，他观测了壮丽的1744年多尾彗星。早期彗星几年才一颗，所以不必考虑编号问题。

虽然发稿前已经读了若干遍，但是有些低级错误还是在所难免，希望大家包涵！
应4楼要求原文已经加上了，是pdf文件往下复制的文本
刚查过wiki，pekin除了北京还代表美国的其他几个城市，考虑到年代，应该是北京，以前确实不知，多谢您指正！
另外有几处表中的错误数据也已更正

为啥这么冷啊……0点公布分，没事干，自己顶