Pierre Méchain
M72 was discovered by astronomer Pierre Méchain in 1780. His countryman Charles Messier looked for it 36 days later, and included it in his catalog. Both opted for the then-dominant of the competing terms for such objects, considering it a faint nebula rather than a cluster. With a larger instrument, astronomer John Herschel (died 1871) called it a bright "cluster of stars of a round figure". Astronomer Harlow Shapley (died 1972) noted a similarity to Messier 4 and 12.