The
Messier objects are a set of
astronomical objects first listed by
French astronomer Charles Messier in his "Catalogue des Nébuleuses et des Amas d'Étoiles" ("Catalogue of Nebulae and Star Clusters") included in the
Connaissance des Temps for
1774 (published in 1771). The original motivation of the catalogue was that Messier was a
comet hunter, and was frustrated by objects which resembled but were not comets. He therefore compiled a
list of these objects in collaboration with his assistant
Pierre Méchain.
