Nicolas
Louis de Lacaille
On March 15th
1715 the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille who mapped the southern
skies was born.
He led an
expedition (1750–54) to the Cape of Good Hope, where he measured the positions of
nearly 10,000 stars. After his death his Coelum Australe Stelliferum (“Star
Catalog of the Southern Sky”) was published in 1763.
He created
the following constellations in the southern hemisphere:
Antlia the
Air Pump
Caelum the
Sculptor’s Tool
Circinus the
Compasses
Fornax the
Furnace
Horologium
the Clock
Mensa the
Table
Microscopium
the Microscope
Norma the
Rule
Octans the
Octant
Pictor the
Painter
Pyxis the
Mariner’s Compass
Reticulum
theNet
Sculptor the
Sculptor
Telescopium
the Telescope
Nicolas
Louis de Lacaille died on 21st March 1762.
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