The hottest Messier stuff available

Most recent hots:

A.J. Crayon's Analysis of Messier Marathons, as of April 27, 2015 - A.J.'s First Analysis (as of 2011)
Scans of the Original Messier Catalog of 1781 - from the copy of the Bureau des Longitudes, Paris
M109 and M109B: Henk Bril discovered in 2006 that Pierre Méchain had discovered NGC 3953 and not NGC 3992, but possibly (or probably) that object may have been dicovered by Charles Messier when checking its position. See Henk's discussion. Here, at least for the time being, we will acknowledge Méchain's finding with the (new) designation M109B for NGC 3953, and Messier's (probable or possible) discovery by keeping the name M109, or M109A, for NGC 3992. A more detailed discussion is in preparation.
McNeil's Nebula discovered near M78; recovered in an old Evered Kreimer photograph on the SEDS Messier pages!
M79 may be a recent immigrant to our Milky Way's Galactic Globular Cluster system, from the remnant system of the Canis Major Dwarf discovered 2003. Similar to M54 which came from SagDEG.
Pigott's discovery of M64 recovered
Messier 102: Status of its identification. Historical evidence implies it may be NGC 5866.
New more beautiful scans of David Malin's images (note these are copyrighted): M1, M5, M8, M11, M16 (full view), M16 (central part), M17, M20 (full view), M20 (deep image), M27, M31, M33, M42, M43, M45, M65, M66, M83, M87, M84 & M86, M87 and Markarian's Chain, M95, M100, M104.
Identify galaxies in the heart of the Virgo cluster interactively
The Hodierna Catalog could be significantly revised and improved thanks to the help of Fredi De Maria of the ORSA, Palermo, Italy.
Biography of W. Tempel, including his drawing of the Merope Nebula in the Pleiades, made available online by Leos Ondra
Hubble Views the Hourglass Nebula in the Lagoon Nebula M8
HST images of the Trapezium Cluster in the Orion Nebula M42
Screen sized HST images of M16 (suitable as backgrounds for your computer screen)

Hot options in our Messier pages

Messier's Original Catalog of Nebulae and Star Clusters online
The Messier Marathon ! Marathon Results ..
Messier Object Index for quick navigation
Tony Cecce's Twelve Month Tour of the Messier Catalog
Historic materials on and related to Charles Messier; History of Deepsky Discovery
Messier 102: An article on its identification
Historical Deep Sky Object List: All 152 Deep Sky Objects known before September 1782, when William Herschel started his extensive survey
Dave Nash has created Virtual Messier, a graphical interface to access our Messier Catalog database
The Hubble Space Telescope and the Messier Objects
Animations related to the Messier objects
Questions and Answers on Messier and his catalog

Mirrors !

Outside North America, you may have faster access to our pages through one of our Mirror Sites. Moreover, there is a German version of the Messier pages, created and maintained by Christine Kronberg, an Italian version by Mario Farina, and a French version by Bernard Trézéguet.

Further interesting options

Image Quick-Browser; Quick-access Icon Sheet; Messier poster (195k jpg) of this sheet.
Messier Object Photo List in image icons or in text mode (partly outdated)
Leos Ondra has agreed that we have his articles on globular cluster M5, planetary nebula Pease 1 in M15, and his Biography of Wilhelm Tempel, the discoverer of the Merope Nebula in the Pleiades, here, thanks !

The hottest shots of Messier objects

Excellent amateur photos: M1 by Bobby Middleton [caption]
New more beautiful scans of David Malin's images (thanks!): M1, M5, M8, M11, M16 (full view), M16 (central part), M17, M20 (full view), M20 (deep image), M27, M31, M33, M42, M43, M45, M65, M66, M83, M87, M84 & M86, M87 and Markarian's Chain, M95, M100, M104.
Some of the hottest Hubble Space Telescope images are of Messier objects: Hourglass Nebula in the Lagoon Nebula M8, Trapezium Cluster in the Orion Nebula M42, Pulsar and dynamics of the Crab Nebula M1, star forming regions in M16 (select from this table, or find some screen sized HST images of M16).
David Malin's deep images of Messier galaxies:
- M84/M86 region in Virgo Cluster: M84/86 deep image page; b/w negative, b/w positive.
- M89: M89 deep image page; deep image (b/w negative), b/w positive.
- M100: M100 deep image page, b/w negative with color positive overlaid, b/w positive and color negative.

If you know any more "HOT" Messier stuff, please contact me

Other hot stuff (besides Messier).

Hartmut Frommert
Christine Kronberg
[contact]

Last Modification: January 5, 2021