It was first published in 1774 by the French astronomer Charles Messier with 45 objects. It now includes 110 celestial objects: 40 galaxies, 29 globular clusters, 28 open star clusters ...

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 ...