Hubble's Messier Catalog

The objects in Charles Messier’s catalog are nice targets for backyard astronomers with a pair of binoculars or a small telescope and a relatively dark sky.

Quick Facts

Hubble imaged 87 of the 110 objects in Charles Messier's catalog.

Hubble Nebula - Crab Nebula

Hubble resolves exquisite detail and individual stars in the globular cluster, Messier 15.

Hubble view of M15

Hubble captured the dark dust lanes and bright, young, blue stars in the spiral galaxy, Messier 63.

A spiral galaxy with a glowing yellow center. Its spiral arms are full of dark reddish-brown lanes of dust and faint purple stars.
Browse Hubble's Messier catalog objects in the night sky. To explore the Messier Skymap, scroll, double click, or pinch/swipe to zoom. Roll over an icon to see the object, click to zero in, and click again for a detailed view. Drag the map to navigate.
Background Image: ESA/Gaia/DPAC; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO. Acknowledgement: A. Moitinho
View full screen Skymap

Overview

The Messier catalog, begun by astronomer Charles Messier in the 18th Century and revised over the years, includes some of the most fascinating astronomical objects that can be observed from Earth’s Northern Hemisphere. Among them are deep-sky objects that can be viewed in stunning detail using larger telescopes but are also bright enough to be seen through a small telescope. This characteristic makes Messier objects extremely popular targets for amateur astronomers possessing all levels of experience and equipment. They are so popular, in fact, that they have inspired a special award from the Astronomical League (an organization for amateur astronomers) given to observers who are able to spot each of these objects. Those who succeed receive a certificate and are given the distinction of being in the Messier Club.

The Pleiades
The brilliant stars seen in this ground-based image are members of the open star cluster M45, also known as the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters. The shapes overlaid on the image represent the fields of view of Hubble’s cameras and other science instruments, and provide a scale to Hubble’s very narrow view on the heavens.
NASA, ESA and AURA/Caltech

While the Hubble Space Telescope has not produced images of every object in the Messier catalog, it has observed 96 of the 110 total as of June 2018, 87 of those observations were processed into the images below. Some of Hubble's photographs offer views of a given object in its entirety, but many focus on specific areas of interest. While Hubble is able to magnify objects very effectively, it has a relatively small field of view. This means that, in some cases, Hubble would need to take many exposures to capture an entire object. Although this is not always an efficient use of its time, as is the case for the widely spaced “open” star clusters in the Messier catalog, many exposures are taken when the scientific value justifies the time spent. One of these objects is the Andromeda galaxy (designated M31 in Messier’s catalog). In order to create a mosaic image that depicts almost half of Andromeda, Hubble has taken nearly 7,400 exposures of the galaxy.

Unlike a digital camera that takes a single photograph in red, green and blue light to create a single full-color image, Hubble takes monochrome images at specific wavelengths of light. These specific wavelengths can reveal characteristics of an object that are of scientific interest, such as the presence of a particular chemical element. Multiple observations at different wavelengths can be combined to form a single image that reveals all of these characteristics at once but doesn’t necessarily contain the full spectrum of visible light. In those cases, colors are assigned to each wavelength to highlight the different characteristics, offering a deeper understanding of the object’s properties.

Additionally, Hubble is equipped to take infrared and ultraviolet images, which can reveal information that cannot be obtained using only visible light. Because infrared and ultraviolet light are not visible to human eyes, these images need to be processed in such a way that makes them meaningful to observers. This is done by assigning colors that humans can perceive to the wavelengths that they cannot.

Whether their tool of choice is a sophisticated ground-based telescope, a decent pair of binoculars, or simply their naked eyes, observers hunting for Messier objects can use the data gathered from Hubble’s spectacular images to deepen their understanding of these 110 highlights of the night sky as they carry on the tradition of amateur astronomy.

The following pages contain some of the best images from Hubble’s Messier catalog taken thus far.

History

Charles Messier

Charles Messier (1730–1817) was a French astronomer best known for his "Catalog of Nebulae and Star Clusters."

An avid comet-hunter, Messier compiled a catalog of deep-sky objects in order to help prevent other comet enthusiasts from wasting their time studying objects that were not comets.

Read more
painting of Charles Messier
Belgian-born historical and portrait painter, Antoine Ansiaux is credited with creating this portrait of Charles Messier in 1771. Credit: Kollar, Jean-Michel, “Portrait de Charles Messier - Pastel d'Ansiaume (1771)”, 1997, Bibliothèque de l'Observatoire de Paris, Dp 674. Consulté le 28 nov. 2022
R. Stoyan et al., Atlas of the Messier Objects: Highlights of the Deep Sky (Cambridge University Press, 2008)

Hubble's Messier Catalog

Use Hubble's images to help guide your exploration of the Messier catalog.

Bright green, orange, and yellow tendrils intertwined within this egg shaped nebula.

Messier 1 (The Crab Nebula)

Better known as the Crab Nebula, Charles Messier originally mistook Messier 1 for Halley’s Comet, which inspired him to create…

A Hubble image of a ball of thousands of stars

Messier 2

Hubble's image of Messier 2 is comprised of visible and infrared wavelengths of light.

Hubble view of M3 - a ball of thousands of stars.

Messier 3

Messier 3 holds more than 500,000 stars.

Hubble view of M4, a colorful ball of thousands of stars

Messier 4

Use the bright star, Antares, to help you find Messier 4.

Hubble view of M5, a collection of thousands of stars of different colors.

Messier 5

Messier 5’s stars formed more than 12 billion years ago.

A black background is filled with small, reddish-orange stars. Larger blue-white stars are scattered across the image, with a slightly higher concentration at upper left.

Messier 7

This open cluster is the southernmost object in Messier's catalog.

M8, the Lagoon Nebula (Hubble image) that looks like colorful waves breaking.

Messier 8 (The Lagoon Nebula)

Famously known as the Lagoon Nebula, Messier 8 shines by the ionizing ultraviolet radiation of its embedded young stars.

Hubble view of M9

Messier 9

Messier 9 is the one of the closest globular clusters to the center of our Milky Way galaxy.

Hubble view of M10

Messier 10

Hubble’s image of Messier 10’s dense core holds observations taken in visible and infrared light.

An open cluster of stars, with many small stars in the background and several larger white and yellow in the foreground.

Messier 11 (The Wild Duck Cluster)

This cluster's brightest stars form a rough V-shape that resembles a flock of migrating waterfowl, giving it the common name…

A globular cluster of thousands of white, blue, and larger yellow stars.

Messier 12

Astronomers suspect Messier 12 lost up to one million low-mass stars.

A globular cluster of thousands of stars, mainly white and yellow with small blue stars intermixed.

Messier 13 (The Hercules Cluster)

Astronomer Edmond Halley, of Halley's comet fame, discovered Messier 13 in 1714.

The field is filled with orange, red, yellow, blue, and white stars. They appear as a spherical, dense mass that tapers out toward the edges of the image on a black background.

Messier 14

Messier 14 is home to over 150,000 stars.

A dense globular cluster of thousands of stars.

Messier 15

Messier 15 is host an intermediate-mass black hole at its core.

The famous Pillars of Creation revealed by the Hubble Space Telescope in high definition. Multiple pillars of brown gas and dust with potential stars in protruding fingertips, with a background of green and blue gas.

Messier 16 (The Eagle Nebula)

Better known as the Eagle Nebula, Messier 16 has provided Hubble with some of its most iconic images.

Blue and orange stars glitter across the image, interwoven with dark clouds of brown dust and bright, glowing regions of blue. A red rectangle near the upper-right corner holds white lettering that says, "New Image."

Messier 17 (The Omega Nebula or Swan Nebula)

Messier 17 is better known as the Omega Nebula or Swan Nebula.

The field is filled with orange, red, yellow, blue, and white stars. They appear as a spherical, dense mass that tapers out toward the edges of the image on a black background.

Messier 19

Messier 19 is one of several globular clusters found in the constellation Ophiuchus.

Red and brown gas and dust with several bright stars at the center. The image is a set of rectangles mosaiced together.

Messier 20 (The Trifid Nebula)

Look for Messier 20, better known as the Trifid Nebula, in August.

The center of globular cluster M22 with its thousands of stars.

Messier 22

Messier 22 offered Hubble some interesting discoveries.

Cluds of dust and gas in shads of blue, yellow and dark brown that make up a protion of the Dumbbell Nebula

Messier 27 (The Dumbbell Nebula)

Through backyard telescopes, Messier 27 has two bright lobes making it look like a dumbbell, and is commonly called the…

The central portion of a galaxy cluster with thousands of stars that tapers off the further from the center you get.

Messier 28

This globular cluster holds a dense neutron star that rotates once every three milliseconds.

Thousands of mostly white and yellowish stars in a globular cluster.

Messier 30

Hubble observations helped identify two types of "blue stragglers" in Messier 30.

This sweeping bird's-eye view of a portion of the Andromeda galaxy (M31) shows stars, lanes of dark dust and bright core. The central region is on the left.

Messier 31 (The Andromeda Galaxy)

Persian astronomer Abd al-rahman al-Sufi’s The Book of Fixed Stars from the year 964 contains the first known report of…

thousands of stars can be seen in the corner of a galaxy that is void of gas and dust.

Messier 32

Messier 32 is a satellite galaxy of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31).

A galaxy image with little structure but a clear central region of yellowish stars and an exterior of dust and blue star formation.

Messier 33 (The Triangulum Galaxy)

At half the size of our Milky Way, Messier 33 is the third-largest galaxy in our local group of galaxies.

An intense cloud of red, purple, brown and similar color gas that is the Orion Nebula that includes pockets of starbirth.

Messier 42 (The Orion Nebula)

You can spot Messier 42, better known as the Orion Nebula, with the unaided eye from a dark sky site.

Purple, red, brown and similar color gas with a bright star in the middle.

Messier 43

Messier 43 is a neighbor to Messier 42, the Orion Nebula.

Background galaxies and stars are sprinkled across a black background. Some of the distant galaxies are spirals.

Messier 44

Messier 44, also famously known as the Beehive Cluster or Praesepe, swarms with activity as its name would suggest. This…

Lower left is an interstellar cloud in Pleiades of wispy tendrils of white/gray dust and gas. Rays of iight from a star in the upper right are visible.

Messier 45 (The Pleiades)

This bright open cluster of stars, more commonly called the Pleiades or Seven Sisters, is easy to see with the…

right side of image: circular nebula with reddish-white star at center, turquoise interior with hazy, cloudy yellow-orange and red rings around the center

Messier 46

Most of the stars in this image are part of the open star cluster, Messier 46. The colorful planetary nebula…

A smattering of stars against a black background.

Messier 48

Messier 48 (M48), also known as NGC 2548, is located near the head of the constellation Hydra, the Sea Serpent,…

A blurred/soft elliptical galaxy of stars at the center.

Messier 49

Messier 49 holds nearly 6,000 globular clusters.

A spiral galaxy seen from overhead, with its two major arms spiraling out from its bright white core. At the end of the arm on the right is another bright white blob, this is a second galaxy. The arms are bluish and purple, peppered with countless stars.

Messier 51 (The Whirlpool Galaxy)

Also known as the Whirlpool Galaxy, Messier 51's spiral arms are star-forming factories.

Large galaxy that's globular in shape, the closer to the center you get the brighter and whiter the image due to the amount of stars. Stars are everywhere in this image, of all sorts of colors.

Messier 53

Messier 53 is one of the Milky Way's most distant globular clusters from Earth.

Large galaxy that's globular in shape, the closer to the center you get the brighter and whiter the image due to the amount of stars. Stars are everywhere in this image, of all sorts of colors.

Messier 54

Messier 54 belongs to a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way.

Field is filled with white stars, smattered with blue-white and reddish-orange stars. Stars are concentrated at the center of the image. All are on a black background.

Messier 55

This globular cluster holds 100,000 stars including 55 variable stars.

Large galaxy that's globular in shape, the closer to the center you get the brighter and whiter the image due to the amount of stars. Stars are everywhere in this image, of all sorts of colors.

Messier 56

This Hubble image of Messier 56 includes both visible and infrared observations.

Black background holding an oval of light. The outer ring of the oval is orange-red. Moving inward the ring is more greenish-yellow. The center of the ring is bright blue with one small star at its center and another above and to the right of it.

Messier 57 (The Ring Nebula)

Messier 57, better known as the Ring Nebula, is the glowing remains of a sun-like star.

Spiral galaxy seen from above. Bright central core is white due to the light from so many stars, on the outer edge of the galaxy the arms spread out, with light blue and purple dust and gas, peppered with stars.

Messier 58

Discovered in 1779 by Charles Messier, M58 was one of the first galaxies recognized to have a spiral shape and…

A hazy white-yellow light shines in the top left corner of the image against black space, dotted with faint, distant stars.

Messier 59

This giant elliptical galaxy holds approximately 2,200 globular clusters.

A hazy white-yellow light shines in the center of the image against black space, dotted with faint, distant stars. In the top right of the image is a spiral galaxy with many arms as seen from overhead. It is light blue.

Messier 60

Hubble captured the elliptical galaxy, Messier 60, and a smaller spiral galaxy, NGC 4647.

Spiral galaxy seen from above. Bright central core is white due to the light from so many stars, on the outer edge of the galaxy the arms spread out, with light blue and purple dust and gas, peppered with stars.

Messier 61

This galaxy is undergoing a period of intense star formation.

A sparkling cluster of yellow and white stars, primarily concentrated near the upper right.

Messier 62

This globular cluster has an extremely dense core of 150,000 stars.

A spiral galaxy with a glowing yellow center. Its spiral arms are full of dark reddish-brown lanes of dust and faint purple stars.

Messier 63 (The Sunflower Galaxy)

This flocculent galaxy is a type of spiral without well defined spiral arms.

A spiral galaxy fills the image. Dark spiral arms dotted with brown dust and pinkish bursts of stars surround a bright core.

Messier 64 (The Black Eye Galaxy)

This dusty galaxy is also known as the Black Eye galaxy.

A spiral galaxy with a bright core fills the image, surrounded by faint spiral arms laced through with dark dust. A black rectangle is at the upper left, showing a portion where there is no Hubble data.

Messier 65

Messier 65 is a member of the Leo Triplet of galaxies.

A spiral galaxy is viewed sideways, with the glowing core closer to the upper left of the image. It is surrounded by spiral arms laced through with dark dust and bright regions of star formation.

Messier 66

This spiral has asymmetric arms and a core that appears to be off center.

A scattering of white and reddish stars on a black background. A red box near the upper-right corner holds the word, "New" in white letters.

Messier 67

This open cluster contains an unusually old population of stars.

A bright cluster of white stars, more concentrated near the center.

Messier 68

Hubble captured this globular cluster's core at visible and infrared wavelengths of light.

A cluster of bright stars, concentrated at the center.

Messier 69

This globular cluster is one of the most metal-rich ever observed.

A cluster of bright stars, concentrated at the center.

Messier 70

Messier 70 has more stars at its core than the average globular cluster.

Several stars shine against black space.

Messier 71

This globular cluster is one of the smallest of its kind.

A cluster of white stars, loosely concentrated toward the center.

Messier 72

This is one of the most remote clusters in Messier’s catalog.

A large spiral galaxy fills the image. Its bright, yellow core is near the upper left, surrounded by big spiral arms laced through with dark dust and purple and pink regions of star formation.

Messier 74

Hubble captured this face-on spiral galaxy at visible and infrared wavelengths.

Hubble image of m75

Messier 75

This globular cluster holds roughly 400,000 stars.

Taking up most of the image, is a multi-colored nebula appearing as two translucent orbs attached by a white band.

Messier 76

This planetary nebula is also known as the Cork Nebula, Barbell Nebula, or Little Dumbbell Nebula.

A bright spiral galaxy with a yellow core shines at the center, surrounded by spiral arms laced through with dark dust and pink regions of star formation.

Messier 77

This majestic spiral galaxy has an intensely active core.

A hazy, cloudy region mostly in blue in the upper left diagonal half of the image, and mostly brown and yellow near the lower right diagonal.

Messier 78

Hubble's infrared image of Messier 78 helped astronomers understand how young stars develop.

A cluster or white and orange stars, more densely concentrated at the center.

Messier 79

Our Milky Way galaxy may have stripped this globular cluster from another galaxy.

Image center holds a dense sphere of stars in colors of red, orange, yellow, white, and blue. The stars are densely packed at image center and taper out toward the image's edges. They are on a black background.

Messier 80

Hubble’s ultraviolet observations of this globular cluster helped astronomers identify the remains of a nova-producing white dwarf.

A bright spiral galaxy with a large, yellow core, with small spiral arms surrounding it.

Messier 81

This stately spiral galaxy holds a black hole at its heart that is 70 million times the mass of the…

A white band of stars that cuts across a black background, from the lower left to the upper right, is the galaxy M82. Reddish brown gas and dust overlays the galaxy concentrated in the center of the image and fanning out above and below the white band of the galaxy. Black background is dotted with stars.

Messier 82 (The Cigar Galaxy)

This galaxy's center is forming stars 10 times faster than our entire Milky Way.

A large spiral galaxy stretches across the image, with a bright core surrounded by large spiral arms laced through with dark dust and purple and pink regions of star formation.

Messier 83 (The Southern Pinwheel)

This spiral galaxy is forming new stars in clusters on the edges of its dark, spiraling dust lanes.

A line of dust obscures a glowing object

Messier 84

This elliptical is one of the many galaxies that make up the Virgo Cluster.

Diffuse oval haze against black background. Stars and distant galaxies shine through it. Just above image center the haze gets brighter and denser toward the bright-white core of the galaxy. Top, just left of center is a bright foreground star.

Messier 85

This galaxy may be an elliptical galaxy or a lenticular galaxy.

A bright, hazy point of white light shines near the top center of the image, against black space dotted with distant stars.

Messier 86

Messier 86 is either a lenticular or elliptical galaxy that holds roughly 3,800 globular clusters.

A bright, yellowish galaxy core shines near the center, with a faint jet of material ejecting toward the right.

Messier 87

This enormous elliptical galaxy is home of several trillion stars some 15,000 globular star clusters.

A bright galaxy core shines at the center of the image, surrounded by large spiral arms laced through with dark dust and bright blue regions of star formation.

Messier 88

This galaxy's core holds supermassive black hole roughly 100 million times more massive than our Sun.

A hazy, yellow-white light shines near the top right, against black space dotted with faint, distant stars.

Messier 89

This elliptical galaxy holds approximately 100 billion stars and well over 2,000 globular clusters.

A purple-white galaxy core is seen near the top left of the image, surrounded by spiral arms laced through with dark dust and purple regions of star formation.

Messier 90

This beautiful spiral is expected to evolve into a lenticular galaxy.

A bright yellow galaxy core shines, surrounded by spiral arms laced through with dark dust and bright blue regions of new stars.

Messier 91

Messier 91 is one of the faintest objects in Messier’s catalog.

A bright cluster of stars, more concentrated at the center.

Messier 92

This globular cluster is one of the brightest in the Milky Way.

A bright yellow galaxy core shines, surrounded by spiraling arms laced through with dark dust and blue-white regions of new stars. A red box near the upper-right corner holds the phrase "New Image" in white letters.

Messier 94

This colorful spiral has two recently discovered faint arms outside of its core region that extend far out into space.

Near the top left, a bright galaxy core shines, surrounded by spiral arms with dark dust and purple-white regions of star formation.

Messier 95

Messier 95 is visible as a hazy smudge on a clear, dark night using a good pair of binoculars.

A spiral galaxy against black space. The galaxy's bright, yellow core is surrounded by spiraling arms laced with dark brown dust and pink and purple bursts of star formation.

Messier 96

This spiral galaxy is asymmetrical because of the gravitational pull of its neighboring galaxies.

A bright yellow galaxy core shines, surrounded by spiral arms laced through with dark dust and bluish regions of star formation. A black stair step region near the upper left shows an area without Hubble data.

Messier 98

This spiral galaxy holds about a trillion stars and an abundance of neutral hydrogen gas and interstellar dust.

The bright blue spiraling arms of a galaxy are seen against black space, with a yellowish core visible near the top of the image.

Messier 99

Hubble images provide detailed views of one of this grand spiral's arms.

M100

Messier 100

This grand-design spiral galaxy offers a majestic view through larger backyard telescopes.

Looking like a pinwheel, this face-on spiral galaxy holds a bright-white core at image center. Arms curve outward from the core. They hold dark dust lanes and bright star-forming regions. All on a black background dotted with stars.

Messier 101 (The Pinwheel Galaxy)

Messier 101 is a classic, face-on, pinwheel spiral galaxy.

A galaxy is seen edge-on, with a dark lane of dust obscuring it surrounded by a hazy white glow, all against a black background.

Messier 102 (The Spindle Galaxy)

Hubble's was able to resolve details in the dust lanes of Messier 102.

A bright hazy, oblate ball of stars fills the scene. Its core is bright white. Around the equator is a disk of bright stars and dark dust. The dust lane is prominent and bisects the sphere of stars.

Messier 104 (The Sombrero Galaxy)

Hubble easily resolves some of the Sombrero galaxy’s roughly 2,000 globular clusters.

A hazy white-yellow light shines against black space, dotted with faint, distant stars.

Messier 105

Messier 105 is the largest elliptical galaxy in the Messier catalog.

A bright yellow galaxy core, surrounded by spiral arms with pink and brown lanes of dust and bright regions of star formation.

Messier 106

Messier 106 was discovered by Charles Messier’s observing assistant, Pierre Méchain, in 1781.

A bright cluster of white and yellow stars against black space.

Messier 107

The best time to spot Messier 107 through a small telescope or binoculars is in July.

Bright stars scatter across the field of view, more closely concentrated at the lower right. Dark brown lanes of dust spread throughout the view. The phrase, "new image" surrounded by a red box is near the upper-right corner of the image.

Messier 108

Messier 108 is one of the largest and brightest members of the Ursa Major galaxy cluster, which is part of…

Haze of light. Bright core of the galaxy just left of center. A smattering of rusty-brown dust clouds in the foreground.

Messier 109

This barred spiral is the brightest member of the Ursa Major Galaxy Group of roughly 80 galaxies.

Several faint stars crowd the image, with a larger white-blue galaxy core near the right side of the image.

Messier 110

Messier 110 is a satellite galaxy of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31).