page_title: Messier object
hierarchical_section_title: Messier object
caption_attribution_description: English: Compilation made by an amateur astronomer
context_page_description: The Messier objects are a set of 110 astronomical objects catalogued by the French astronomer Charles Messier in his Catalogue des Nébuleuses et des Amas d'Étoiles.
  Because Messier was only interested in finding comets, he created a list of non-comet objects that frustrated his hunt for them. The compilation of this list, in collaboration with his assistant Pierre Méchain, is known as the Messier catalogue. This catalogue of objects is one of the most famous lists of astronomical objects, and many Messier objects are still referenced by their Messier number.
  The catalogue includes astronomical objects that can be observed from Earth's Northern Hemisphere; many Messier objects are extremely popular targets for amateur astronomers.
  A preliminary version first appeared in the Memoirs of the French Academy of Sciences in 1771.
  The first version of Messier's catalogue contained 45 objects and was published in 1774 in the journal of the French Academy of Sciences in Paris. Eighteen of the objects were discovered by Messier, the rest being previously observed by other astronomers.
  By 1780 the catalogue had increased to 80 objects.
context_section_description: The Messier objects are a set of 110 astronomical objects catalogued by the French astronomer Charles Messier in his Catalogue des Nébuleuses et des Amas d'Étoiles ("Catalogue of Nebulae and Star Clusters"). 
  Because Messier was only interested in finding comets, he created a list of non-comet objects that frustrated his hunt for them. The compilation of this list, in collaboration with his assistant Pierre Méchain, is known as the Messier catalogue. This catalogue of objects is one of the most famous lists of astronomical objects, and many Messier objects are still referenced by their Messier number. 
  The catalogue includes astronomical objects (deep-sky objects) that can be observed from Earth's Northern Hemisphere; many Messier objects are extremely popular targets for amateur astronomers.
  A preliminary version first appeared in the Memoirs of the French Academy of Sciences in 1771.
  The first version of Messier's catalogue contained 45 objects and was published in 1774 in the journal of the French Academy of Sciences in Paris. Eighteen of the objects were discovered by Messier, the rest being previously observed by other astronomers.
  By 1780 the catalogue had increased to 80 objects. The final version of the catalogue containing 103 objects was published in 1781 in the Connaissance des Temps for the year 1784.
  However, due to what was thought for a long time to be the incorrect addition of Messier 102, the total number remained 102. Other astronomers, using side notes in Messier's texts, eventually filled out the list up to 110 objects.
  The catalogue consists of a diverse range of astronomical objects, from star clusters and nebulae to galaxies. For example, Messier 1 is a supernova remnant, known as the Crab Nebula, and the great spiral Andromeda Galaxy is M31. Many further inclusions followed in the next century when the first addition came from Nicolas Camille Flammarion in 1921, who added Messier 104 after finding Messier's side note in his 1781 edition exemplar of the catalogue. M105 to M107 were added by Helen Sawyer Hogg in 1947, M108 and M109 by Owen Gingerich in 1960, and M110 by Kenneth Glyn Jones in 1967.
caption: All Messier objects, taken and compiled by an amateur astronomer
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