Charles Messier was one ambitious comet hunter. But one of the problems he encountered with his telescope was mistaking "faint fuzzy" objects for comets. Messier resolved to correct this situation by noting all comet-like objects that didn't move against the background stars of the constellations. He marked these carefully on his chart, adding a few each year.
His first object which he catalogued as M1 turns out to be Crab Nebulae in Taurus. This object looks just like the fuzz ball of a distant comet, especially if it is rising in the dawn's early light. Of course, the Crab is now known to be a supernovae remnant and one of the most spectacular objects in the sky, it's gas shell expanding at velocities in thousands of miles per second. But Messier didn't stop there, his catalog also included the Great Nebulae in Orion (M42)-blazing home of stars being born.
Even the Andromeda Galaxy received the ignominious moniker of M33. Our sister galaxy is so close, large , and bright that it is the only galaxy consistently visible to the naked eye. Because Messier's telescopes were not of the quality of today's instruments, Messier had no idea that the this false comet distraction would later be studied to prove that these spiral and elliptical clouds are in fact island universes housing billions and billions of stars million and millions of light years away. (2.2 million light years to be exact in the case of the Andromeda Galaxy)
Little did Messier know that his catalog would be the treasure throve that amateur astronomers for generations would use to hunt down the most stunning wonders of the Universe. In fact, the Messier Certificate is the first certification step for amateurs learning their way around the heavens. Locating , drawing, and identifying the 108 objects that Messier catalogued is the first benchmark for trained observers proving their mettle with a telescope or binoculars.
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