Messier objects are kind of like a greatest-hits list of cool stuff in the night sky—things like star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies. They're named after a French astronomer, Charles Messier, who lived in the 1700s. Back then, Messier was mainly hunting for comets. But he kept running into these fuzzy-looking things in the sky that weren't comets. So, to avoid getting confused, he made a list of them—just so he wouldn't waste time checking them again. Funny thing is, that list ended up becoming super famous. Today, astronomers and stargazers still use his list—there are 110 Messier objects total. They're awesome for beginners because most of them can be seen with binoculars or a small telescope. You might've even heard of a few: the Orion Nebula (M42), the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), or the Pleiades star cluster (M45). So even though Messier just wanted to avoid false alarms, he accidentally gave us one of the best skywatching guides ever.