Messier catalog

As an aid to comet-hunting, in 1781 the French astronomer Charles Messier (1730–1817) compiled a list of objects that might be mistaken for comets but were not comets. These objects were fuzzy like comets, but they couldn't be comets because they didn't move: unlike comets they were known to keep their place among the fixed stars. The list included the most visible examples of what we now recognize as galaxies, star clusters and nebulae.

The list's long standing has made it so familiar that objects in it are often referred to by M plus their position in the list. For example, the great galaxy in Andromeda is called “M31.” Familiarity and its being a handy list of the most easily observed spectacular objects has kept the list alive. Among professional astronomers, the Messier catalog is obsolete, replaced by catalogs like the NGC.

The original list contained 103 objects; seven more were added later by others.

M	NGC	Position		Constellation	What Is It?	Special name
M	NGC	R. A.	Dec.	Constellation	What Is It?	Special name
1	1952	5h31.5′	+21°59′	Taurus	remains of a supernova	Crab Nebula
2	7089	21h33.5′	−00°49′	Aquarius	globular cluster
3	5272	13h42.2′	+28°23′	Canes Venatici	globular cluster
4	6121	16h23.6′	−26°32′	Scorpius	globular cluster
5	5904	15h18.6′	+02°05′	Serpens Caput	globular cluster
6	6405	17h40.1′	−32°13′	Scorpius	open cluster
7	6475	17h53.9′	−34°49′	Scorpius	open cluster
8	6523	18h03.8′	−24°23′	Sagittarius	nebula + cluster	Lagoon Nebula
9	6333	17h19.2′	−18°31′	Ophiuchus	globular cluster
10	6254	16h57.1′	−04°06′	Ophiuchus	globular cluster
11	6705	18h51.1′	−06°16′	Scutum	open cluster
12	6218	16h47.2′	−01°57′	Ophiuchus	globular cluster
13	6205	16h41.7′	+36°28′	Hercules	globular cluster
14	6402	17h37.6′	−03°15′	Ophiuchus	globular cluster
15	7078	21h30.0′	+12°10′	Pegasus	globular cluster
16	6611	18h18.8′	−13°47′	Serpens Cauda	open cluster
17	6618	18h20.8′	−16°11′	Sagittarius	nebula + cluster
18	6613	18h19.9′	−17°08′	Sagittarius	open cluster	Horseshoe Nebula
19	6273	17h02.6′	−26°16′	Ophiuchus	globular cluster
20	6514	18h02.6′	−23°02′	Sagittarius	nebula + cluster	Trifid Nebula
21	6513	18h04.6′	−22°30′	Sagittarius	open cluster
22	6656	18h36.4′	−23°54′	Sagittarius	globular cluster
23	6494	17h56.8′	−19°01′	Sagittarius	open cluster
24	6603	18h16.9′	−18°29′	Sagittarius	pseudocluster, stars seen through a break in the dust
25	4725	18h31.6′	−19°15′	Sagittarius	open cluster
26	6694	18h45.2′	−09°24′	Scutum	open cluster
27	6853	19h59.6′	+22°43′	Vulpecula	planetary nebula	Dumbbell Nebula
28	6626	18h24.5′	−24°52′	Sagittarius	globular cluster
29	6913	20h23.9′	+38°32′	Cygnus	open cluster
30	7099	21h40.4′	−23°11′	Capricornus	globular cluster
31	224	0h42.7′	+41°16′	Andromeda	galaxy	Great Nebula in Andromeda
32	221	0h42.7′	+40°52′	Andromeda	galaxy
33	598	1h33.9′	+30°39′	Triangulum	galaxy	Triangulum Nebula
34	1039	2h42.0′	+42°47′	Perseus	open cluster
35	2168	6h08.9′	+24°20′	Gemini	open cluster
36	1960	5h36.1′	+34°08′	Auriga	open cluster
37	2099	5h52.4′	+32°33′	Auriga	open cluster
38	1912	5h28.7′	+35°50′	Auriga	open cluster
39	7092	21h32.2′	+48°26′	Cygnus	open cluster
40	—	12h22.4′	+58°05′	Ursa Major	double star
41	2287	6h47.0′	−24°44′	Canis Major	open cluster
42	1976	5h35.4′	−05°27′	Orion	diffuse nebula	Great Nebula in Orion
43	1982	5h35.6′	−05°16′	Orion	diffuse nebula
44	2632	8h40.1′	+19°59′	Cancer	open cluster	Praesepe
45	1432	3h47.0′	+24°07′	Taurus	open cluster	Pleiades
46	2437	7h41.8′	−14°49′	Puppis	open cluster
47	2422	7h36.6′	−14°30′	Puppis	open cluster
48	2548	8h13.8′	−05°48′	Hydra	open cluster
49	4472	12h29.8′	+08°00′	Virgo	galaxy
50	2323	7h03.2′	−08°20′	Monoceros	open cluster
51	5194	13h29.9′	+47°12′	Canes Venatici	galaxy	Whirlpool Nebula
52	7654	23h24.2′	+61°35′	Cassiopeia	open cluster
53	5024	13h12.9′	+18°10′	Coma Berenices	globular cluster
54	6715	18h55.1′	−30°29′	Sagittarius	globular cluster
55	6809	19h40.0′	−30°58′	Sagittarius	globular cluster
56	6779	19h16.6′	+30°11′	Lyra	globular cluster
57	6720	18h53.6′	+33°02′	Lyra	planetary nebula	Ring Nebula in Lyra
58	4579	12h37.7′	+11°49′	Virgo	galaxy
59	4621	12h42.0′	+11°39′	Virgo	galaxy
60	4649	12h43.7′	+11°33′	Virgo	galaxy
61	4303	12h21.9′	+04°28′	Virgo	galaxy
62	6266	17h01.2′	−30°07′	Ophiuchus	globular cluster
63	5055	13h15.8′	+42°02′	Canes Venatici	galaxy
64	4826	12h56.7′	+21°41′	Coma Berenices	galaxy
65	3623	11h18.9′	+13°05′	Leo	galaxy
66	3627	11h20.2′	+12°59′	Leo	galaxy
67	2682	8h50.4′	+11°49′	Cancer	open cluster
68	4590	12h39.5′	−26°45′	Hydra	globular cluster
69	6637	18h34.4′	−32°21′	Sagittarius	globular cluster
70	6681	18h43.2′	−32°18′	Sagittarius	globular cluster
71	6838	19h53.8′	+18°47′	Sagitta	globular cluster
72	6981	20h53.5′	−12°32′	Aquarius	globular cluster
73	6994	20h58.9′	−12°38′	Aquarius	cluster?
74	628	1h36.7′	+15°47′	Pisces	galaxy
75	6864	20h06.1′	−21°55′	Sagittarius	globular cluster
76	650	1h42.4′	+51°34′	Perseus	planetary nebula
77	1068	2h42.7′	−00°01′	Cetus	galaxy
78	2068	5h46.7′	+00°03′	Orion	diffuse nebula
79	1904	5h24.5′	−24°33′	Lepus	globular cluster
80	6093	16h17.0′	−22°59′	Scorpius	globular cluster
81	3031	9h55.6′	+69°04′	Ursa Major	galaxy
82	3034	9h55.8′	+69°41′	Ursa Major	galaxy
83	5236	13h37.0′	−29°52′	Hydra	galaxy
84	4374	12h25.1′	+12°53′	Virgo	galaxy
85	4382	12h25.4′	+18°11′	Coma Berenices	galaxy
86	4406	12h26.2′	+12°57′	Virgo	galaxy
87	4486	12h30.8′	+12°24′	Virgo	galaxy
88	4501	12h32.0′	+14°25′	Coma Berenices	galaxy
89	4552	12h35.7′	+12°33′	Virgo	galaxy
90	4569	12h36.8′	+13°10′	Virgo	galaxy
91	—	12h35.4′	+14°30′	Coma Berenices	galaxy
92	6341	17h17.1′	+43°08′	Hercules	globular cluster
93	2447	7h44.6′	−23°52′	Puppis	open cluster
94	4736	12h50.9′	+41°07′	Canes Venatici	galaxy
95	3351	10h44.0′	+11°42′	Leo	galaxy
96	3368	10h46.8′	+11°49′	Leo	galaxy
97	3587	11h14.8′	+55°01′	Ursa Major	planetary nebula	Owl Nebula
98	4192	12h13.8′	+14°54′	Coma Berenices	galaxy
99	4254	12h18.8′	+14°25′	Coma Berenices	galaxy
100	4321	12h22.9′	+15°49′	Coma Berenices	galaxy
101	5457	14h03.3′	+54°21′	Ursa Major	galaxy	Pinwheel Nebula
102	5866	15h06.5′	+55°45′	Draco	galaxy
103	581	1h33.2′	+60°42′	Cassiopeia	open cluster
104	4594	12h40.0′	−11°37′	Virgo	galaxy	Sombrero Nebula
105	3379	10h47.8′	+12°35′	Leo	galaxy
106	4258	12h19.0′	+47°18′	Canes Venatici	galaxy
107	6171	16h32.5′	−13°03′	Ophiuchus	globular cluster
108	3556	11h11.5′	+55°40′	Ursa Major	galaxy
109	3992	11h57.6′	+53°23′	Ursa Major	galaxy
110	205	0h40.4′	+41°41′	Andromeda	galaxy

want more?

A website with photographs of all the Messier objects can be accessed at http://seds.org/billa/dssm/messier.html, with informative essays on each object (click on the “more” link). They also offer a good listing of other related links. Another collection of Messier images, not a complete set but often more spectacular, is at http://zebu.uoregon.edu/messier.html

A biography of Messier: http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/messier/xtra/history/biograph.html