Messier Objects

French astronomer Charles Messier was born on June 26, 1730. Inspired by childhood sightings of comets and a solar eclipse visible from his home town of Badonvillier, he became an astronomer and comet hunter who kept careful records of his observations. While hunting for comets in the skies above France he made a now famous list of the positions of about 100 fuzzy, diffuse looking objects which appeared at fixed positions in the sky. These objects were recorded so that they would not be mistaken as comets.

Although these objects looked like comets, Messier knew that since they did not move with respect to the background stars they could not be the comets he was searching for. These objects are now well known to modern astronomers to be among the brightest and most striking nebulae, star clusters, and galaxies. Objects on Messier's list, Catalog of Nebulae and Star Clusters, are still referred to by their "Messier number". Messier's published catalog had 103 entries; this was later made up to 110.

The complete Messier Catalog is now seen as an observer's 'single night' challenge. Rather than try to record the complete set in 14 or so hours, I am setting off on maybe 14 years to see how many I can observe and capture digitally or on film. 51 Messiers imaged so far.

M1	M2	M3	M4	M5	M6	M7	M8	M9	M10
M11	M12	M13	M14	M15	M16	M17	M18	M19	M20
M21	M22	M23	M24	M25	M26	M27	M28	M29	M30
M31	M32	M33	M34	M35	M36	M37	M38	M39	M40
M41	M42	M43	M44	M45	M46	M47	M48	M49	M50
M51	M52	M53	M54	M55	M56	M57	M58	M59	M60
M61	M62	M63	M64	M65	M66	M67	M68	M69	M70
M71	M72	M73	M74	M75	M76	M77	M78	M79	M80
M81	M82	M83	M84	M85	M86	M87	M88	M89	M90
M91	M92	M93	M94	M95	M96	M97	M98	M99	M100
M101	M102	M103	M104	M105	M106	M107	M108	M109	M110

Reference Book: I have found Stephen O'Meara's book a most useful and attractive companion

The Messier Objects
Stephen O'Meara
*****

One of O'Meara's Deep-Sky Companions Series.
An attractive, expensive but desirable reference for the Messier collector. Descriptions, images, drawings, history and charts for each Messier object.
Click book image for more info.

Messier Object Log: Why not keep a viewing log of your nights spent gazing at the Messier Objects.

Have a look at David Green's

The Ultimate Messier Object Log

This free software provides a database of Messier information and facilities to store your own viewing notes.

Click log image for more information