The Messier catalog, popular with amateur astronomers, was actually just a by-product of comet hunting. The aim was to avoid ...

Called the Messier marathon, it’s a skywatching challenge that prompts astronomers to spot all 110 galaxies, nebulas and star clusters in the Messier catalog, a list of objects started by 18th ...

Messier's frustration with finding "fuzzy" bodies that weren't comets resulted in his famous list of 103 objects, published in 1781, later revised by other astronomers to 110 objects. His list ...