Q:Facts: - death place: paris , france - residence: paris - known for: messier catalog - caption: charles messier - fields: astronomy - death date: 12 april 1817 - ethnicity: french - awards: cross of the legion of honor - birth date: 26 june 1730 - name: charles messier - citizenship: french - nationality: french - image: charles messier.jpg - birth place: badonviller , france Based on these bullet points, write a short biography describing the life of charles messier .
A:
charles messier -lrb- ; 26 june 1730 -- 12 april 1817 -rrb- was a french astronomer most notable for publishing an astronomical catalogue consisting of nebulae and star clusters that came to be known as the 110 '' messier objects '' .the purpose of the catalogue was to help astronomical observers , in particular comet hunters such as himself , distinguish between permanent and transient visually diffuse objects in the sky .