Astrophotography by Anthony Ayiomamitis

Messier Object Image Gallery

Charles Messier, an avid comet hunter in the middle of the 18th century, often encountered "fuzzy" objects while gazing and perusing the night sky and which he would initially confuse as being comets. During repeat observation on consequent days, he was able to confirm that these fuzzy objects were indeed not comets but some sort of nebulous objects. In order not to repeat these seemingly repetitive mistakes and false alarms, he started maintaining a growing list of these objects along with their location in the sky so as to bypass them in the future while searching for comets. Little did Messier know that these objects, now named in his honour, represent some of the finest objects in the sky and have become an amateur astronomer's treasure chest year after year. Numbering 110 in total, these "fuzzies" represent star clusters (globular, open, planetary or supernova remnants), nebulae (reflection or emission) as well as various galaxies.


Messier Objects

M1
Crab Nebula

M2


M3


M4


M5


M6
Butterfly Cluster

M7
Ptolemy's Cluster

M8
Lagoon Nebula

M9


M10


M11
Wild Duck Cluster

M12


M13


M14


M15


M16
Eagle Nebula

M17
Swan Nebula

M18


M19


M20
Trifid Nebula

M21

M22

M23

M24

M25

M26


M27
Dumbbell Nebula

M28


M29


M30


M31
Andromeda Galaxy

M32


M33
Pinwheel Galaxy

M34


M35


M36

M37

M38

M39

M40

M41


M42
Orion Nebula

M43


M44
Beehive Cluster

M45
Pleiades Cluster

M46

M47

M48

M49

M50

M51
Whirlpool Galaxy

M52


M53


M54


M55


M56


M57
Ring Nebula

M58


M59


M60


M61


M62


M63
Sunflower Galaxy

M64
Black-Eye Galaxy

M65


M66


M67
King Cobra

M68


M69


M70


M71
Boomerang Cluster

M72


M73


M74


M75


M76
Little Dumbbell Nebula

M77


M78
Arrowhead Nebula

M79


M80


M81
Bode's Nebula

M82


M83


M84


M85


M86

M87

M88

M89

M90

M91

M92

M93

M94

M95

M96


M97
Owl Nebula

M98


M99


M100


M101
Pinwheel Galaxy

M102


M103


M104
Sombrero Galaxy

M105


M106

M107

M108

M109

M110