
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 |