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Messier Objects Charles Messier was a French astronomer who in 1774 published a catalog of 45 deep sky objects such as galaxies, nebulae and star clusters. He created the catalog to aid astronomers and comet hunters (like himself) to distinquish the difference between a comet and an object that was permanently located in a certain point of the sky. His catalog had grown to 110 objects by 1781 and became known as the "Messier Catalog". The designation of these "M" objects are still in use today. The following collection of images is my own Messier Catalog which I'm working on. It's a work in progress, but someday I'll have all 110 Messier objects photographed. Sure, there is a period of time in March when all 110 can be seen in one night (the "Messier Marathon"), but there just isn't enough hours in one night to photograph all of them, so I'm taking my time! 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 14 18 19 21 22 23 24 25 26 28 29 30 32 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 43 48 49 50 52 53 54 55 56 58 59 60 61 62 65 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 102 103 104 105 107 108 110