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Discovery of the Whirlpool Galaxy
- When
- 13 October 1773
- Where
- unknown
Charles Messier discovered the Whirlpool Galaxy on October 13, 1773, designating it as M51 in his catalogue.
Messier discovered the Whirlpool Galaxy, an interacting grand-design spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici, on October 13, 1773. He was hunting for objects that could confuse comet hunters. The galaxy was designated as M51 in his catalogue, which was published in 1774 in the journal of the French Academy of Sciences in Paris.
Sources
- Charles Messier Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-13
- Whirlpool Galaxy Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-03
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.