In the middle of the 18th century, the return of  Halley's comet helped to prove the Newtonian theory, and helped to spark a new interest in astronomy. During this time, a French astronomer named Charles Messier began a life-long search for comets. He eventually would discover 15 of them. On August 28, 1758, while searching for comets, Messier found a small cloudy object in the constellation of Taurus. He began keeping a journal of these nebulous (cloudy) objects so that they would not be confused with comets. The first object he observed was the remnant of a supernova explosion known as the Crab Nebula (M1). Over the next few years, Messier and his colleagues would catalog a total of 110 nebulae, galaxies, and star clusters. Today, the "Messier Marathon" is somewhat of a rite of passage for amateur astronomers. The photos in this section are presented in grayscale to best represent what would be seen through the telescope. Most of these photos are copyright protected. Click here for copyright & source information. Click on the menus below to begin exploring the messier catalog.