. These objects appeared fuzzy in his small telescope but did not move against the background of stars. The astronomers of the day called these objects "nebulae, " a word whose definition is much more specific today.<br><br>During his searches, he discovered a comet-like patch in Taurus on August 28, 1758. This non-moving object later became the first entry &mdash; M1 &mdash; in his famous catalog of nebulous objects that might be mistaken for comets. Messier published three versions of this catalog. The fi