The MVAS Messsier Project

The Messier objects are a set of astronomical objects catalogued by the French astronomer Charles Messier in his "Catalogue des Nébuleuses et des Amas d'Étoiles" ("Catalogue of Nebulae and Star Clusters"), originally published in 1771.

What we are setting out to do here is for our Members to Image the entire list, which will be posted here. Only those objects sucessfully imaged by our members (beginning on February 1st, 2011) will be posted here. Blocks in RED are objects remaining to be imaged. Click on the Messier Object Picture for the objects' sub-page to display.

Messier number	NGC Number	Common Name	Object Type	Distance (kly)	Constellation	Apparent Magnitude
M1	NGC 1952	Crab Nebula	Supernova remnant	6.3	Taurus	9.0
M2	NGC 7089		Globular cluster	36	Aquarius	7.5
M3	NGC 5272		Globular cluster	31	Canes Venatici	7.0
M4	NGC 6121		Globular cluster	7	Scorpius	7.5
M5	NGC 5904		Globular cluster	23	Serpens	7.0
M6	NGC 6405	Butterfly Cluster	Open cluster	2	Scorpius	4.5
M7	NGC 6475	Ptolemy Cluster	Open cluster	1	Scorpius	3.5
M8	NGC 6523	Lagoon Nebula	Cluster with nebula	6.5	Sagittarius	6.0
M9	NGC 6333		Globular cluster	26	Ophiuchus	9.0
M10	NGC 6254		Globular cluster	13	Ophiuchus	7.5
M11	NGC 6705	Wild Duck Cluster	Open cluster	6	Scutum	7.0
M12	NGC 6218		Globular cluster	18	Ophiuchus	8.0
M13	NGC 6205	Great Globular Cluster in Hercules	Globular cluster	22	Hercules	5.8
M14	NGC 6402		Globular cluster	27	Ophiuchus	9.5
M15	NGC 7078	Cúmulo de Pegaso	Globular cluster	33	Pegasus	7.5
M16	NGC 6611	Eagle Nebula	Cluster with H II region	7	Serpens	6.5
M17	NGC 6618	Omega, Swan, Horseshoe, or Lobster Nebula	Cluster with H II region	5	Sagittarius	6.0
M18	NGC 6613		Open cluster	6	Sagittarius	8.0
M19	NGC 6273		Globular cluster	27	Ophiuchus	8.5
M20	NGC 6514	Trifid Nebula	Cluster with H II region	5.2	Sagittarius	6.3
M21	NGC 6531		Open cluster	3	Sagittarius	7.0
M22	NGC 6656	Sagittarius Cluster	Globular cluster	10	Sagittarius	5.1
M23	NGC 6494		Open cluster	4.5	Sagittarius	6.0
M24	NGC 6603	Sagittarius Star Cloud	Milky Way star cloud	10.0	Sagittarius	4.6
M25	IC 4725		Open cluster	2	Sagittarius	4.9
M26	NGC 6694		Open cluster	5	Scutum	9.5
M27	NGC 6853	Dumbbell Nebula	Planetary nebula	1.25	Vulpecula	7.5
M28	NGC 6626		Globular cluster	18	Sagittarius	8.5
M29	NGC 6913		Open cluster	7.2	Cygnus	9.0
M30	NGC 7099		Globular cluster	25	Capricornus	8.5
M31	NGC 224	Andromeda Galaxy	Spiral galaxy	2,500	Andromeda	3.4
M32	NGC 221		Dwarf elliptical galaxy	2,900	Andromeda	10.0
M33	NGC 598	Triangulum Galaxy	Spiral galaxy	2,810	Triangulum	5.7
M34	NGC 1039		Open cluster	1.4	Perseus	6.0
M35	NGC 2168		Open cluster	2.8	Gemini	5.5
M36	NGC 1960		Open cluster	4.1	Auriga	6.5
M37	NGC 2099		Open cluster	4.6	Auriga	6.0
M38	NGC 1912		Open cluster	4.2	Auriga	7.0
M39	NGC 7092		Open cluster	0.8	Cygnus	5.5
M40		Winnecke 4	Double star WNC4	0.5	Ursa Major	9.0
M41	NGC 2287		Open cluster	2.3	Canis Major	4.5
M42	NGC 1976	Orion Nebula	H II region	1.6	Orion	4.0
M43	NGC 1982	De Mairan's Nebula	H II region (part of the Orion Nebula)	1.6	Orion	7.0
M44	NGC 2632	Beehive Cluster	Open cluster	0.6	Cancer	3.7
M45		Pleiades	Open cluster	0.4	Taurus	1.6
M46	NGC 2437		Open cluster	5.4	Puppis	6.5
M47	NGC 2422		Open cluster	1.6	Puppis	4.5
M48	NGC 2548		Open cluster	1.5	Hydra	5.5
M49	NGC 4472		Elliptical galaxy	60,000	Virgo	10.0
M50	NGC 2323		Open cluster	3	Monoceros	7.0
M51	NGC 5194, NGC 5195	Whirlpool Galaxy	Spiral galaxy	37,000	Canes Venatici	8.4
M52	NGC 7654		Open cluster	7	Cassiopeia	8.0
M53	NGC 5024		Globular cluster	56	Coma Berenices	8.5
M54	NGC 6715		Globular cluster	83	Sagittarius	8.5
M55	NGC 6809		Globular cluster	17	Sagittarius	7.0
M56	NGC 6779		Globular cluster	32	Lyra	9.5
M57	NGC 6720	Ring Nebula	Planetary nebula	2.3	Lyra	8.8
M58	NGC 4579		Barred spiral galaxy	60,000	Virgo	11.0
M59	NGC 4621		Elliptical galaxy	60,000	Virgo	11.5
M60	NGC 4649		Elliptical galaxy	60,000	Virgo	10.5
M61	NGC 4303		Spiral galaxy	60,000	Virgo	10.5
M62	NGC 6266		Globular cluster	22	Ophiuchus	8.0
M63	NGC 5055	Sunflower Galaxy	Spiral galaxy	37,000	Canes Venatici	8.5
M64	NGC 4826	Black Eye Galaxy	Spiral galaxy	12,000	Coma Berenices	9.0
M65	NGC 3623		Barred spiral galaxy	35,000	Leo	10.5
M66	NGC 3627		Barred spiral galaxy	35,000	Leo	10.0
M67	NGC 2682		Open cluster	2.25	Cancer	7.5
M68	NGC 4590		Globular cluster	32	Hydra	9.0
M69	NGC 6637		Globular cluster	25	Sagittarius	9.0
M70	NGC 6681		Globular cluster	28	Sagittarius	9.0
M71	NGC 6838		Globular cluster	12	Sagitta	8.5
M72	NGC 6981		Globular cluster	53	Aquarius	10.0
M73	NGC 6994		Asterism		Aquarius	9.0
M74	NGC 628		Spiral galaxy	35,000	Pisces	10.5
M75	NGC 6864		Globular cluster	58	Sagittarius	9.5
M76	NGC 650, NGC 651	Little Dumbbell Nebula	Planetary nebula	3.4	Perseus	10.1
M77	NGC 1068		Spiral galaxy	60,000	Cetus	10.5
M78	NGC 2068		Diffuse nebula	1.6	Orion	8.0
M79	NGC 1904		Globular cluster	40	Lepus	8.5
M80	NGC 6093		Globular cluster	27	Scorpius	8.5
M81	NGC 3031	Bode's Galaxy	Spiral galaxy	12,000	Ursa Major	6.9
M82	NGC 3034	Cigar Galaxy	Barred spiral galaxy (?)	11,000	Ursa Major	9.5
M83	NGC 5236	Southern Pinwheel Galaxy	Barred spiral galaxy	10,000	Hydra	8.5
M84	NGC 4374		Lenticular galaxy	60,000	Virgo	11.0
M85	NGC 4382		Lenticular galaxy	60,000	Coma Berenices	10.5
M86	NGC 4406		Lenticular galaxy	60,000	Virgo	11.0
M87	NGC 4486		Elliptical galaxy	60,000	Virgo	11.0
M88	NGC 4501		Spiral galaxy	60,000	Coma Berenices	11.0
M89	NGC 4552		Elliptical galaxy	60,000	Virgo	11.5
M90	NGC 4569		Spiral galaxy	60,000	Virgo	11.0
M91	NGC 4548		Barred Spiral galaxy	60,000	Coma Berenices	11.0
M92	NGC 6341		Globular cluster	26	Hercules	7.5
M93	NGC 2447		Open cluster	4.5	Puppis	6.5
M94	NGC 4736		Spiral galaxy	14,500	Canes Venatici	9.5
M95	NGC 3351		Barred Spiral galaxy	38,000	Leo	11.0
M96	NGC 3368		Spiral galaxy	38,000	Leo	10.5
M97	NGC 3587	Owl Nebula	Planetary nebula	2.6	Ursa Major	9.9
M98	NGC 4192		Spiral galaxy	60,000	Coma Berenices	11.0
M99	NGC 4254		Spiral galaxy	60,000	Coma Berenices	10.5
M100	NGC 4321		Spiral galaxy	60,000	Coma Berenices	10.5
M101	NGC 5457	Pinwheel Galaxy	Spiral galaxy	27,000	Ursa Major	7.9
M102	(Not conclusively identified)^[105]
M103	NGC 581		Open cluster	8	Cassiopeia	7.0
M104	NGC 4594	Sombrero Galaxy	Spiral galaxy	50,000	Virgo	9.5
M105	NGC 3379		Elliptical galaxy	38,000	Leo	11.0
M106	NGC 4258		Spiral galaxy	25,000	Canes Venatici	9.5
M107	NGC 6171		Globular cluster	20	Ophiuchus	10.0
M108	NGC 3556		Spiral galaxy	45,000	Ursa Major	11.0
M109	NGC 3992		Barred Spiral galaxy	55,000	Ursa Major	11.0
M110	NGC 205		Dwarf elliptical galaxy	2,200	Andromeda	10.0