Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. On Oct. 13, 1773, a French astronomer named Charles Messier discovered the "whirlpool galaxy," also known as Messier 51, or M51.

Hundreds of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have been recorded as part of an enormous global effort so extensive it 'rivals the catalog of deep-sky objects created by Messier 250 years ago', astronomers say.

I have an unusual affliction, and have suffered from it since I was a kid. My dad, John, was a professor of organic chemistry and also very involved in a range of other interests, one of which was ...