Johann Gottfried Köhler (15 December 1745 – 19 September 1801) was a German
astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...
who discovered a number of
nebula
A nebula (; or nebulas) is a distinct luminescent part of interstellar medium, which can consist of ionized, neutral, or molecular hydrogen and also cosmic dust. Nebulae are often star-forming regions, such as in the Pillars of Creation in ...
e,
star cluster
A star cluster is a group of stars held together by self-gravitation. Two main types of star clusters can be distinguished: globular clusters, tight groups of ten thousand to millions of old stars which are gravitationally bound; and open cluster ...
s, and
galaxies
A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, and dark matter bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar Sys ...
.
Köhler is best remembered for his discovery of
Open Cluster M67,
Elliptical Galaxy M59, and
Elliptical Galaxy M60. The latter two were discovered on the same day, 11 April 1779.
He worked with the noted astronomer
Johann Elert Bode, who refined and published Köhler's proposal for the symbol of
Uranus
Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. It is a gaseous cyan-coloured ice giant. Most of the planet is made of water, ammonia, and methane in a Supercritical fluid, supercritical phase of matter, which astronomy calls "ice" or Volatile ( ...
.
From 1784 he was the director of
Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon
The Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon (, ''Royal Cabinet of Mathematical and Physical Instruments'') in Dresden, Germany, is a museum of historic clocks and scientific instruments. Its holdings include terrestrial and celestial globes, astronomic ...
.
[Klaus Schillinger: ''Johann Gottfried Köhler - Inspektor am Mathematisch-Physikalischen Salon Dresden -aktiver Beobachter des gestirnten Himmels im letzten Viertel des 18. Jahrhunderts''. In: ''Der Meister und die Fernrohre''. (Acta Historica Astronomiae Vol. 33) Frankfurt(Main) 2007, S. 261f]
References
1745 births
1801 deaths
18th-century German astronomers
Scientists from Dresden
{{Germany-astronomer-stub