M40 / Winnecke 4

Odysseus wrote:

In article ,
Anthony Ayiomamitis wrote:


Ben wrote:


snip

I have puzzled over Messier's inclusion of this object.
The inclusion of M 73 (6994) falls under the same riddle
and they both seem to suggest that Messier's telescope
was suffering from a legion of ills.

... or perhaps the owner was smoking some (illegal) stuff while cruising
the skies. :-)


What would have been illegal to smoke in the eighteenth century?


Hehehehe ... good point. :-)

Anthony.