swap_horiz Charles Messier Alternatives

1

Claudius Ptolemy

Working in Alexandria during the second century CE, Claudius Ptolemy was a Greek-speaking astronomer whose Almagest orga...

Ancient Geocentric Alexandria Catalogs

9.55 Brilliant

2

Edmund Halley

Edmond Halley (1656–1742) was an English astronomer, mathematician, and geophysicist who served as the second Astronomer...

British Comets Proper Motion 17TH 18TH Century

9.48 Excellent

3

William Herschel

William Herschel was an eighteenth-century astronomer renowned for his pioneering work with telescopes. He significantly...

Eighteenth Century Nebulae Uranus Telescopes

9.32 Excellent

4

John Herschel

John Herschel was a nineteenth-century British astronomer renowned for his systematic surveys of the southern hemisphere...

Southern Nineteenth Century Catalogs Nebulae

8.78 Great

5

Ulugh Beg

Ulugh Beg was a 15th-century astronomer and scholar of the Timurid Empire. He established an observatory in Samarkand, u...

Medieval Observatory Samarkand Catalogs

8.56 Great

6

Caroline Herschel

Caroline Herschel was a pioneering eighteenth-century astronomer. Born in Germany, she made significant contributions to...

Women Comets Catalogs Eighteenth Century

8.24 Great

7

Al-Sufi

Al-Sufi was a medieval Islamic scholar renowned for his astronomical work. He compiled the *Book of Fixed Stars*, a comp...

Medieval Islamic Stars Catalogs

8.18 Great

8

Edward Charles Pickering

Edward Charles Pickering was a prominent 19th and early 20th-century astronomer instrumental in developing modern astrop...

Harvard Twentieth Century Catalogs Photometry

8.16 Great

9

Heinrich Olbers

Heinrich Olbers was a German astronomer and physician who practiced medicine by day while making significant contributio...

German 19TH Century Comets Asteroids

8.13 Great

10

Shi Shen

Shi Shen was an ancient Chinese astronomer active during the 4th century BCE. He is notable for compiling one of the ear...

Positional Ancient Chinese Catalogs

8.12 Great

11

Henry Draper

Henry Draper (1837–1882) was an American physician, astronomer, and pioneer of astrophotography. In 1872, he captured th...

American Photography 19TH Century Nebulae

8.09 Great

12

Williamina Fleming

Williamina Fleming was a pioneering twentieth-century astronomer working primarily at Harvard College Observatory. Her m...

Twentieth Century Women Spectroscopy Catalogs

8.02 Great

13

Johannes Hevelius

Johannes Hevelius was a 17th-century astronomer and city councilor based in Danzig, now Gdańsk, Poland. He is best known...

Polish Lunar Early Modern Catalogs

7.96 Good

14

John Flamsteed

John Flamsteed was an English astronomer who became the first Astronomer Royal upon his appointment in 1675. He was inst...

British Observational Early Modern Catalogs

7.92 Good

15

Carolyn Shoemaker

Carolyn Shoemaker was an American astronomer known for discovering and co-discovering comets and asteroids, despite begi...

Planetary Twentieth Century Women Comets

7.85 Good

16

Maria Margarethe Kirch

Maria Margarethe Kirch was a German astronomer who discovered the comet C/1702 H1 in 1702, becoming the first woman cred...

German Comets Early Modern Calendars

7.84 Good

17

Carolyn S. Shoemaker

Carolyn S. Shoemaker (1929–2021) was an American astronomer who became one of the most prolific discoverers of comets in...

Modern American Planetary Comets

7.82 Good

18

Edward Emerson Barnard

Edward Emerson Barnard (1857–1923) was an American observational astronomer who joined the staff of Lick Observatory in...

History Observational Comets Nineteenth Century

7.69 Good

19

Maria Mitchell

Maria Mitchell was an American astronomer who, in 1847, discovered a comet subsequently named "Miss Mitchell's Comet." T...

American Women Comets Nineteenth Century

7.67 Good

20

Bart Bok

Bart Bok was a prominent Dutch-American astronomer celebrated for his extensive research on the structure and dynamics o...

Dutch Twentieth Century Milky Way Nebulae

7.65 Good