NASA's Hubble Messier gallery reveals some of the greatest images ever taken of a number of the celestial objects, including M104, also known as the Sombrero Galaxy, and the dramatic Crab Nebula ...

Predictably, Hubble's observations of Messier objects are, well, just ridiculous. The famous Crab Nebula was the first object to be included in the Messier catalog NASA, ESA, J. Hester and A. Loll ...

In 1774, in an effort to help fellow comet seekers steer clear of astronomical objects that were not comets (something that frustrated his own search for these elusive entities), Messier published ...

The atlas also plots nearly 1,000 double stars ... charts is an itemized list of plotted objects, including the 109 Messier objects and 470 other deep-sky targets.

Credit: Lia Halloran As he continued to search the sky over time, Messier encountered more and more cosmic interruptions, cataloging them, for all intents and purposes, as “objects to avoid while ...

Before Charles Messier handed in the final supplement of his catalog, which was published in 1781, his contemporary, Pierre Méchain, supplied a number of new objects for his consideration.

The Siena Galaxy Atlas is a treasure trove of information ... Plus, such atlases allow astronomers to identify which objects are contenders for detailed follow-up investigations.

An atlas doesn't seem to be an essential item ... Astronomy is no different and there are plenty of catalogs; Messier, New General, Second Cambridge Catalogue of Radio Sources and the Two Micron ...