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Loading contentA catalogue of 110 deep-sky objects compiled by Charles Messier.
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A supernova remnant in Taurus, the expanding debris of a star that exploded in 1054 AD.
A rich, compact globular cluster in the constellation Aquarius.
A bright globular cluster in Canes Venatici containing hundreds of thousands of stars.
A nearby globular cluster in Scorpius, one of the closest such clusters to the Sun.
A large, bright globular cluster in the constellation Serpens.
An open star cluster in Scorpius whose brightest stars suggest the shape of a butterfly.
A bright open cluster in Scorpius noted by the ancient astronomer Ptolemy.
A giant emission nebula and star-forming region in Sagittarius.
A globular cluster in Ophiuchus located near the center of the Milky Way.
A globular cluster in the constellation Ophiuchus.
A rich open cluster in Scutum whose stars form a V-shape resembling flying ducks.
A loosely concentrated globular cluster in Ophiuchus.
The brightest globular cluster in the northern sky, located in Hercules.
A globular cluster in the constellation Ophiuchus.
A dense globular cluster in Pegasus, one of the most concentrated clusters known.
An emission nebula in Serpens famous for the Pillars of Creation star-forming columns.
A bright emission nebula and star-forming region in Sagittarius, also called the Swan Nebula.
A small open star cluster in the constellation Sagittarius.
A markedly oval-shaped globular cluster in Ophiuchus.
A combination emission, reflection, and dark nebula in Sagittarius divided by dust lanes.
A young open star cluster in the constellation Sagittarius.
A bright globular cluster in Sagittarius, one of the nearest to Earth.
An open star cluster in the constellation Sagittarius.
An open star cluster in the constellation Sagittarius.
An open star cluster in the constellation Scutum.
A bright planetary nebula in Vulpecula, the ejected shell of a dying Sun-like star.
A globular cluster in the constellation Sagittarius.
A small open star cluster in the constellation Cygnus.
A dense globular cluster in the constellation Capricornus.
The nearest large spiral galaxy to the Milky Way, located in Andromeda.
A dwarf elliptical galaxy in Andromeda, a satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy.
A spiral galaxy in Triangulum and the third-largest member of the Local Group.
An open star cluster in the constellation Perseus.
A large, bright open star cluster in the constellation Gemini.
A young open star cluster in the constellation Auriga.
The richest open star cluster in the constellation Auriga.
An open star cluster in the constellation Auriga.
A loose open star cluster in the constellation Cygnus.
An open star cluster in Canis Major, located just south of Sirius.
A bright diffuse nebula and active star-forming region in the sword of Orion.
An emission nebula in Orion that forms part of the larger Orion Nebula complex.
A nearby open star cluster in Cancer, visible to the naked eye as a hazy patch.
A bright, nearby open star cluster in Taurus, also known as the Seven Sisters.
A rich open star cluster in the constellation Puppis.
A bright open star cluster in the constellation Puppis.
An open star cluster in the constellation Hydra.
A giant elliptical galaxy in Virgo, a bright member of the Virgo Cluster.
An open star cluster in the constellation Monoceros.
A grand-design spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici interacting with a smaller companion.
A rich open star cluster in the constellation Cassiopeia.
A globular cluster in the constellation Coma Berenices.
A globular cluster in Sagittarius belonging to the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy.
A large, loosely concentrated globular cluster in Sagittarius.
A globular cluster in the constellation Lyra.
A planetary nebula in Lyra appearing as a glowing ring of gas around a dying star.
A barred spiral galaxy in Virgo, a member of the Virgo Cluster.
An elliptical galaxy in the Virgo Cluster within the constellation Virgo.
A large elliptical galaxy in Virgo, part of the Virgo Cluster.
A barred spiral galaxy in Virgo and a member of the Virgo Cluster.
A globular cluster in the constellation Ophiuchus.
A spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici with bright, patchy spiral arms.
A spiral galaxy in Coma Berenices with a prominent dark dust band across its core.
A spiral galaxy in Leo, one of the members of the Leo Triplet.
A spiral galaxy in Leo and the largest member of the Leo Triplet.
One of the oldest known open star clusters, located in Cancer.
A globular cluster in the constellation Hydra.
A globular cluster in the constellation Sagittarius.
A globular cluster in the constellation Sagittarius.
A loosely concentrated globular cluster in the constellation Sagitta.
A faint, distant globular cluster in the constellation Aquarius.
A face-on grand-design spiral galaxy in the constellation Pisces.
A dense, distant globular cluster in the constellation Sagittarius.
A planetary nebula in Perseus, one of the faintest objects in the Messier catalogue.
A barred spiral galaxy in Cetus with an active galactic nucleus, a prototypical Seyfert galaxy.
A reflection nebula in Orion, the brightest diffuse reflection nebula in the sky.
A globular cluster in the constellation Lepus, unusual for its location away from the galactic center.
A dense globular cluster in the constellation Scorpius.
A grand-design spiral galaxy in Ursa Major, one of the brightest galaxies in the sky.
An edge-on starburst galaxy in Ursa Major undergoing intense star formation.
A barred spiral galaxy in Hydra noted for its bright, well-defined spiral arms.
A lenticular galaxy in Virgo within the heart of the Virgo Cluster.
A lenticular galaxy in Coma Berenices, a member of the Virgo Cluster.
A lenticular galaxy in Virgo near the center of the Virgo Cluster.
A supergiant elliptical galaxy in Virgo hosting a supermassive black hole and a relativistic jet.
A spiral galaxy in Coma Berenices, a member of the Virgo Cluster.
An elliptical galaxy in Virgo within the Virgo Cluster.
A spiral galaxy in Virgo and a member of the Virgo Cluster.
A barred spiral galaxy in Coma Berenices, a member of the Virgo Cluster.
A bright globular cluster in the constellation Hercules.
An open star cluster in the constellation Puppis.
A spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici with a bright inner ring of star formation.
A barred spiral galaxy in Leo, part of the Leo I group of galaxies.
A spiral galaxy in Leo and the brightest member of the Leo I group.
A planetary nebula in Ursa Major whose two dark patches resemble an owl's eyes.
An edge-on spiral galaxy in Coma Berenices, a member of the Virgo Cluster.
A nearly face-on grand-design spiral galaxy in Coma Berenices.
A grand-design spiral galaxy in Coma Berenices, one of the brightest in the Virgo Cluster.
A large face-on spiral galaxy in Ursa Major with sprawling spiral arms.
An open star cluster in the constellation Cassiopeia.
A spiral galaxy in Virgo seen nearly edge-on, with a prominent dust lane and bright bulge.
An elliptical galaxy in Leo and a member of the Leo I group.
A spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici with an active galactic nucleus.
A globular cluster in the constellation Ophiuchus.
An edge-on barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major.
A barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major.
A dwarf elliptical galaxy in Andromeda, a satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy.
Charles Messier was a dedicated French comet-hunter who grew tired of mistaking fuzzy, unmoving objects for comets. To avoid the confusion he listed them — galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters — in a catalogue of about 110 entries.
Spectroscopy and photography turned telescopes into instruments of astrophysics, revealing what stars are made of.
A chart of the Messier objects — the nebulae, clusters, and galaxies of Charles Messier's eighteenth-century catalogue — each placed at its real celestial coordinates and sized by its apparent extent. The classic target list for a first tour of the deep sky.
A list of 109 bright deep-sky objects compiled by the British amateur astronomer Sir Patrick Moore to complement the Messier Catalogue, which it deliberately avoids duplicating. Ordered by declination and spanning both hemispheres, it gathers showpiece galaxies, clusters, and nebulae — such as the Hyades and NGC 869/884 — that Messier omitted. Objects carry a 'C' number.
The catalogues of bright deep-sky showpieces made for the eye and the small telescope — Charles Messier's eighteenth-century list of 'objects to avoid' when comet-hunting, and Patrick Moore's later Caldwell Catalogue that gathers the bright objects Messier passed over.
A catch-all term for any object beyond the Solar System that is neither a single star nor a planet — the star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies that fill catalogues from Messier to the NGC. Deep-sky objects are the classic targets of the amateur telescope and the workhorses of stellar and galactic astrophysics.
A free, open-source planetarium that renders a photorealistic sky in real time, showing the stars, planets, constellations, and deep-sky objects as they appear from any location and time. Widely used for planning observing sessions and for teaching, Stellarium can also control telescopes and simulate the view through different eyepieces.
An interactive sky-atlas application from the Strasbourg astronomical data centre that lets the user overlay images, surveys, and catalogues on the same patch of sky and query Virtual Observatory services directly. Aladin is a central tool for cross-identifying objects across archives.
Two catalogues compiled by George Abell. The 1958 catalogue of rich clusters of galaxies — later extended southward — became the standard reference for galaxy clusters, listing thousands of the densest concentrations in the Universe. Separately, Abell catalogued 86 large, faint planetary nebulae. Objects carry an 'Abell' number in both.
The star catalogue embedded in Ptolemy's Almagest, listing over a thousand stars in 48 constellations with positions and magnitudes. It built on Hipparchus's earlier catalogue and defined the classical sky for centuries.
The first systematic catalogue of dark nebulae, compiled by Edward Emerson Barnard from his pioneering photographs of the Milky Way. The 1919 list of 182 objects was later extended to 370; each 'B' object is a cloud of interstellar dust silhouetted against the star fields behind it, such as B33, the Horsehead Nebula.
The great pre-photographic survey of the northern sky, carried out under Friedrich Argelander at Bonn and published from 1863. It recorded positions and magnitudes for about 325,000 stars to roughly ninth magnitude — the most comprehensive star catalogue of its era — and its 'BD' designations remain in use for naked-eye and telescopic stars today.
A list of 109 bright deep-sky objects compiled by the British amateur astronomer Sir Patrick Moore to complement the Messier Catalogue, which it deliberately avoids duplicating. Ordered by declination and spanning both hemispheres, it gathers showpiece galaxies, clusters, and nebulae — such as the Hyades and NGC 869/884 — that Messier omitted. Objects carry a 'C' number.
The catalogues from ESA's Gaia mission, mapping the positions, distances, motions, and brightnesses of nearly two billion stars.
Facts on this topic will be cited from these primary and reference sources.
Official naming, definitions, constellation boundaries, and astronomical nomenclature.