These galleries of Messier Objects are already configured to be used directly from this website on your tablet or laptop. In mini scale, smart phones will display the maps also.

Mobile App

Reference Line Maps™ of all 110 Messier Objects will soon be available with mobile app functionality.  Contact Us if you are interested in uploading the beta version of our mobile app.

 

Credits, Copyrights, Acknowledgements:

1.  Deep sky object DSS Images:  The Digitized Sky Survey is in the public domain.  The DSS was produced at the Space Telescope Science Institute under U.S. Government grant NAG W-2166.    Text overlays and Reference Lines™ have been added to the DSS images by this author, all rights reserved.

2.  Planet, comet, asteroid, meteor shower, moon and other non-deep sky object photographs are NASA photographs.  NASA photographs are in the public domain. NASA images on this site have a text overlay added by deepskymap.org, all rights reserved.   These same images without text overlays are available at http://www.nasa.gov/.

3.  The star maps without reference lines are produced by John Walker.   All rights are reserved by deepskymap.org for the maps on this site with reference lines.  All rights are reserved by deepskymap.org for Reference Line Maps, the Reference Line Method and Reference Line endpoint data.

4.  The exhaustive 427 page book by Kenneth Glyn Jones, Messier’s Nebulae & Star Clusters, served as the inspirational force behind this work.  The first edition was published in 1968 by Faber and Faber Ltd.  The second edition was published in 1991 by the Cambridge University Press.  Because red dot finders and laser pointers did not exist in 1968, the star hopping method Jones uses in Messier’s Nebulae & Star Clusters to locate deep sky objects is  admittedly dated.  However, the rich history Jones provides for Charles Messier, other early astronomers and each of the Messier Objects is exhaustive and inspiring.

5.  Galactic positions are displayed for supernova remnants,  planetary nebulae, emission nebulae and star clusters  in the Milky Way Galaxy.  Galactic position images are used with permission  of thinkastronomy.com.

6. These are maps assembled by amateur astronomers for amateur astronomers. This continuously updated collection of maps and images would not be possible without contributions from amateur astronomers around the world. For most Messier Objects there are many possible choices for line segment endpoints. Please continue to download blank maps and reconnect the dots, especially for difficult objects. If you are having difficulty locating an object, you can be sure others are having difficulty also. Please continue sending us your suggested improvements. Also, please let us know if your device has difficulty scrolling albums on this new platform.

7.  Any good thing which comes from this project must be attributed to the One who provides for all good things.  About Him it is written, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made.”  Also, it is written, “Since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine majesty have been understood from what has been made…”

References:

I.  General Catalogue, Sir John Fredrick William Herschel, 1864

II.  Bedford Catalogue, Admiral Willam Henry Smyth, 1844

III.  Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes, Thomas William Webb, 1859

IV.  Messier’s Nebulae and Star Clusters, Kenneth Glyn Jones,  1968 & 1991

V.  Nebulae and Star Clusters, Charles Messier, 1781