| Description | This was the first Messier object to be discovered by Charles Messier himself on May 3, 1764, representing a gap of nearly 4 years from the recording of M2. This personal discovery seemed to inspire Messier, since he went on to catalog another 37 objects (through M40) before the end of the year. As usual, he described M3 as a "nebula" (a blur): "Nebula discovered between Bootes & one of the Hunting Dogs of Hevelius [Canes Venatici], it doesn't contain any star, its center is brilliant, & its light is gradually fading away, it is round.... It is reported on the chart of the comet observed in 1779. Memoirs of the Academy of the same year". William Herschel, 20 years later, was the first observer to resolve individual stars within the cluster. <--> This is a lovely Globular Cluster, exhibiting a fair number of blue and red-giant stars. It ranks 5th among Messier GCs in brightness at apparent magnitude of 6.19 and seventh in apparent size (18'). |
