What is Messier catalogue?
The '''Messier Catalogue''' is a list of [[astronomical object]]s made by [[France|French]] [[astronomer]] [[Charles Messier]] in 1771.<ref>{{cite web |author= |date=15 June 2007 |title=Charles Messier's Catalog of Nebulae and Star Clusters |url=http://seds.org/messier/xtra/history/m-cat.html |publisher=SEDS |accessdate=2010-05-08 |archive-date=2000-12-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001203150700/http://seds.org/messier/xtra/history/m-cat.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Messier was a [[comet]] hunter, and was annoyed by fuzzy objects which were not comets. He put together a list of these objects,<ref>{{cite web | author= | date=25 February 2008 | title=The Messier Catalog | url=http://seds.org/messier/ | work=SEDS Messier Database | publisher=SEDS | accessdate=2010-05-08 | archive-date=2011-09-04 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110904022611/http://seds.org/messier/ | url-status=dead }}</ref> with his assistant [[Pierre Méchain]]. The list uses numbers with an 'M' in front. Messier was limited by the objects he could see from France, so the list is incomplete by today's standards. It remains popular because people have used it for centuries and they are familiar with it. The first edition covered 45 objects numbered [[Crab Nebula|M1]] to [[Pleiades (star cluster)|M45]]. The total list published by Messier finally contained 103 objects, and the list was made up to 110 by modern astronomers working from Messier's notes..<ref>{{cite book |author=Patrick Moore |year=1979 |title=The Guinness Book of Astronomy |url=https://archive.org/details/guinnessbookofas00moor |publisher=Guinness Superlatives |isbn=09-00-42476-1 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Charles Messier |year=1781 |chapter=Catalogue des Nébuleuses & des amas d'Étoiles |title=Connaissance des Temps for 1784 |pages=227–267 |bibcode=1781cote.rept..227M }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | author= | title=Original Messier Catalog of 1781 | url=http://seds.org/messier/xtra/Mcat/mcat1781.html#messier1781 |