Messier Objects

Charles Messier was a French amateur comet hunter active in the mid 1700's. He began listing nebulous objects that could be mistaken for comets, but did not change their nightly position in the sky; therefore where not comets. This visually compiled listing from several comet hunters contains some of the very best (biggest, brightest) examples of almost all classes of objects visible from the Northern hemisphere. Check out The Messier Catalog online. Also, see this page with a wealth of information, including a translation of 'Charles Messier's Original Catalog of 1771'.

Quick links to images/information: Aladin previewer (quick look smaller images / links to CDS info); The STScI Digitized Sky Survey (on demand images up to 60' x 60' ); E. E. Barnard catalogue (original dark nebulae plates with Barnard's notes); NGC / IC Project (historically corrected info, mainly for NGC's, with visual description).

Click on thumbnail or name for information and image

Note: Images are generally presented full frame (1530 x 1020 - not cropped). In a few instances, I have cropped an image by 8-15%, due to sequence registration issues

M 1 (1024 size)	M 23 (1024 size)		M 46 (1024 size)	M 73 (1024 size)	M 97 (1024 size)
M 2 (1024 size)	M 25 (1024 size)		M 47 (1024 size)	M 74 (1024 size)	M 98 (1024 size)
M 3 (1024 size)	M 26 (1024 size)		M 48 (1024 size)	M 76 (1024 size)	M 99 (1024 size)
M 4 (1024 size)	M 27 @F10  (1024 size)	M27 @F5  (1024 size)	M 50 (1024 size)	M 77 (1024 size)	M 100 (1024 size)
M 5 (1024 size)	M 28 (1024 size)		M 51 (1024 size)	M 78 (1024 size)	M 101 (1024 size)
M 9 (1024 size)	M 29 (1024 size)		M 52 (1024 size)	M 79 (1024 size)	M 102 (NGC 5866) (1024 size)
M 10 (1024 size)	M 30 (1024 size)		M 53 (1024 size)	M 80 (1024 size)	M 103 (1024 size)
M 11 (1024 size)	M 32 area (1024 size)		M 56 (1024 size)	M 81 (1024 size)	M 104 (1024 size)
M 12 (1024 size)	M 33 (1024 size)		M 57 (1024 size)	M 82 (1024 size)	M 105 group (1024 size)
M 13 (1024 size)	M 34 (1024 size)		M 58 (1024 size)	M 84 and M 86 (1024 size)	M 106 (1024 size)
M 14 (1024 size)	M 35 (1024 size)		M 60 (1024 size)	M 85 (1024 size)	M 107 (1024 size)
M 15 (1024 size)	M 36 (1024 size)		M 61 (1024 size)	M 87 (1024 size)	M108 Deep Sky filter (1024 Size)  M108 red filter (1024 size)
M16 (1024 size)	M 37 (1024 size)		M 63 (1024 size)	M 88 (1024 size)	M 109 (1024 size)
M 17 (1024 size)	M38 (1024 size)		M 64 (1024 size)	M 89 (1024 size)	M 110 (1024 size)
M 18 (1024)	M 41 (1024 size)		M 65 and M 66 (1024 size)	M 90 (1024 size)
M 20 (1024 size)	M 43 (1024 size)		M 67 (1024 size)	M 91 (1024 size)
M 21 (1024 size)	M 44 (center only) (1024 size)		M 71 (1024 size)	M 92 (1024 size)
M22 (1024 size)	M45 (Merope nebulosity only) (1024 size)		M 72 (1024 size)	M 94 (1024 size)

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