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Created 28-Aug-10
Modified 27-Aug-24
Visitors 351
30 photos
The Messier objects are a set of astronomical objects first listed by French astronomer Charles Messier in 1771. The original motivation of the catalogue was that Messier was a comet hunter, and was frustrated by objects which resembled but were not comets. He therefore compiled a list of these objects, in collaboration with his assistant Pierre Méchain. Because Messier lived and did his astronomical work in France in the northern hemisphere, the list he compiled contains only objects from the north celestial pole to a celestial latitude of about −35.7°. Many impressive Southern objects, such as the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are excluded from the list.

All of the Messier objects are visible with binoculars or small telescopes (under favorable conditions); therefore they are popular viewing objects for amateur astronomers. In early spring, astronomers sometimes gather for "Messier marathons", when all of the objects can be viewed over a single night.

Newcomers to astronomy invariably start with the Messier list and I am no exception. My ambition is to photograph all 110 objects.

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Messier 1 The Crab NebulaMessier 27  The Dumbell NebulaMessier 57 The Ring NebulaM97 The Owl NebulaMessier 8 The Lagoon Nebula 2010M42 The Great Orion NebulaMessier 17 The Swan Nebula 2010Messier 16 The Eagle Nebula - 2010Messier 20 The Trifid NebulaM104 The Sombrero GalaxyM51 The Whirlpool GalaxyMessier 108 Edge On Galaxy in Ursa MajorMessier 64 The Blackeye GalaxyMessier 65 & 66Messier 96 Intermediate Spiral GalaxyMessier 63 The Sunflower GalaxyMessier 31 The Andromeda GalaxyMessier 109 Barred Spiral GalaxyM33  The Triangulum GalaxyM81 Grand Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major