Messier: Greenberg Companion

Every object Charles Messier cataloged, photographed from a backyard observatory in California. No account, no ads, and no internet connection needed.

Every one of the 110 objects in Charles Messier's catalog, photographed from a backyard observatory in San Jose, California.

In the 1770s Charles Messier was hunting comets. He kept a running list of the fuzzy objects that turned out not to be comets, so that he would stop wasting nights on them, he cataloged them. That list of annoyances became the finest catalog of galaxies, nebulae and star clusters visible from the northern hemisphere, and amateur astronomers have been working through it ever since.

This app pairs every object with an original photograph, along with what it is, where it sits, how far away it is, and in most cases Messier's own words from the night he logged it.

WHAT IS INSIDE

• All 110 Messier objects, each with an original astrophotograph
• Object type, constellation and distance for every entry
• Messier's original observing notes, translated, for 104 objects
• Filter by type to find galaxies, globular clusters, nebulae and more
• A direct link to NASA's Hubble page for each object
• Pinch to zoom on every image

BUILT TO WORK ANYWHERE

Everything lives on your device. No account, no sign-in, no ads, and no internet connection required. Take it to a dark sky site with no signal and it works exactly as it does at home.

NO DATA COLLECTION

The app collects nothing about you. No analytics, no tracking, no advertising identifiers.

ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHS

Every image was captured and processed by Chanan Greenberg at Greenhawk Observatory in San Jose, California, under ordinary suburban skies. Nothing here is borrowed from a professional facility or a survey archive.