Lacaille's "Catalogue of Nebulae of the Southern Sky"

Lacaille (Abbe Nicholas Louis de la Caille, 1713--1762) compiled a catalog of 3 times 14 nebulous objects, of which 8 are non-existent though (although Vehrenberg gives a NGC number for one of them). Lacaille classified his objects in 3 categories:
Lac I Nebulae
Lac II Nebulous Star Clusters
Lac III Nebulous Stars

However, though this classification may have been suggestive with Lacaille's very small instruments, it does not correspond to actual properties of the objects (perhaps besides that all existing category II objects are actually open clusters, with or without nebulosity).

There's a number of remarkable objects and original discoveries in Lacaille's list; perhaps the most remarkable one is M83, the first galaxy beyond the Local Group to be discovered.

This catalog was compiled during his 2-year journey to the Cape of Good Hope in 1751-52, and is given below (widely based on the article on Lacaille in Hans Vehrenberg's book; an ascii version is also available). We also have an online version of Lacaille's original catalog, as reprinted in 1981 in an appendix to Messier's Catalog in the Connaissance des Temps for 1784. 

Lacaille   D  NGC  Name     Type RA (2000) Dec  Con  mag  Dim/' 


Lac I.1    *  104  47 Tuc   Gl   00:24.1 -72:05 Tuc  3.95 30.9
Lac I.2    * 2070  30 Dor   DN   05:38.7 -69:06 Dor       40x25 
Lac I.3    * 2477           OCl  07:52.3 -38:33 Pup  5.8  27
Lac I.4    * 4833           Gl   12:59.6 -70:53 Mus  6.91 13.5
Lac I.5      5139 Omega Cen Gl   13:26.8 -47:29 Cen  3.68 36.3 
Lac I.6    * 5236  M83      S G  13:37.0 -29:52 Hya  7.6: 11x10
Lac I.7    * 5281           OCl  13:46.6 -62:54 Cen  5.9  5
Lac I.8    * 6124           OCl  16:25.6 -40:40 Sco  5.8: 29
Lac I.9      6121  M4       Gl   16:23.6 -26:32 Sco  5.9  26.3
Lac I.10   * 6242           OCl  16:55.6 -39:30 Sco  6.4  9
Lac I.11   * 6637  M69      Gl   18:34.4 -32:21 Sgr  7.7  7.1
Lac I.12     6656  M22      Gl   18:36.4 -29:54 Sgr  6.5  24.0
Lac I.13     6777  -        -    19:26.8 -71:30 Pav               (2 stars 8..9 mag nearby; GC 4484)
Lac I.14   * 6809  M55      Gl   19:40.0 -30:58 Sgr  7.0  19.0


Lac II.1     -              -    04:03.7 -44:27 
Lac II.2     -              -    07:26.3 -34:08 
Lac II.3   * 2516           OCl  07:58.3 -60:52 Car  3.8  30
Lac II.4   * 2546           OCl  08:12.4 -37:38 Pup  6.3  41
Lac II.5    I2391  o Vel    OCl  08:40.2 -53:04 Vel  2.5  50
Lac II.6     -              -    08:46.6 -42:34 
Lac II.7   * 3228           OCl  10:21.8 -51:43 Vel  6.0  18
Lac II.8   * 3293           DNCl 10:35.8 -58:14 Car  4.7  6
Lac II.9   *I2602 Theta Cru OCl  10:43.2 -64:24 Car  1.9  50
Lac II.10  * 3532           OCl  11:06.4 -58:40 Car  3.0  55
Lac II.11    -              -    11:23.0 -58:19
Lac II.12  * 4755 Kappa Cru OCl  12:53.6 -60:20 Cru  4.2  10
Lac II.13    6231           OCl  16:54.0 -41:48 Sco  2.6  15
Lac II.14    6475  M7       OCl  17:53.9 -34:49 Sco  3.5  80.0


Lac III.1    -              -    05:03.3 -49:29
Lac III.2  * 2547           OCl  08:10.7 -49:16 Vel  4.7  20
Lac III.3  *                OCl? 08:42.2 -48:04                   Cluster ? Non-existent ?
Lac III.4  *I2488           OCl  09:27.6 -56:59 Vel  7.4p 15
Lac III.5  * 3372  Eta Car  DN   10:43.8 -59:52 Car       120x120
Lac III.6  * 3372  Eta Car  DN   10:43.8 -59:52 Car       120x120 (= Lac III.5)
Lac III.7  * 3766           OCl  11:36.1 -61:37 Cen  5.3  12
Lac III.8  * 5662           OCl  14:35.2 -56:33 Cen  5.5  12
Lac III.9    -              -    15:22.6 -59:12
Lac III.10 * 6025           OCl  16:03.7 -60:30 TrA  5.1  12
Lac III.11 * 6397           Gl   17:40.7 -53:40 Ara  5.73 25.7
Lac III.12   6405  M6       OCl  17:40.1 -32:13 Sco  4.5  15.0
Lac III.13   6523  M8       DN   18:03.8 -24:23 Sgr  5.0  60x35
Lac III.14   -              -    21:31.4 -58:35

Key

Lacaille:
Lacaille number
D:
An asterix ("*") marks the original and true discoveries of Lacaille (otherwise, it was either discovered prior by others, or doesn't exist)
NGC:
NGC or IC number
Name:
Common Name, Flamsteed, or Messier number
Type:
DN: Diffuse Nebula; DNCl: Nebula with Cluster; OCl: Open Cluster; Gl: Globular Cluster; S G: Spiral Galaxy
RA, Dec:
Position 2000.0
Con:
Constellation
mag:
Apparent visual magnitude (where av)
Dim/':
Apparent (angular) dimension (in arc minutes)
In each category, Lacaille's objects are apparently sorted by right ascension. Unfortunately, we have no source for the discovery dates (as we have for Messier's observations), so that we cannot give a sequence.

The Lacaille catalog has been originally published under the title "Sur les etoiles nebuleuses du ciel Austral" (On the Nebulous Stars of the Southern Sky) in the Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Paris, 1755, and reprinted together with Messier's catalog in the "Connaissance des Temps", both with the second version in 1780 (for 1783) and the final version in the "Connaissance des Temps" for 1784 (published 1781).

In this version of the Lacaille catalog, there's still one problem with Lacaille III.3. Vehrenberg states it is an open cluster, but the Sky Catalog 2000.0 has no considerable open cluster near Lacaille's position.

Other important astronomical work accomplished by Lacaille includes a catalog of southern stars, and the invention of a number of southern constellations, many of which are still in use today.

  • Lacaille's original catalog, as reprinted in 1981 in an appendix to Messier's Catalog in the Connaissance des Temps for 1784.
  • Other catalogs similar to those of Lacaille and Messier, suitable as amateur checklists, but of less historical importance
  • History of the Discovery of the Deepsky Objects
    Hartmut Frommert (spider@seds.org)
    Christine Kronberg (smil@lrz.uni-muenchen.de)

    [SEDS] [MAA] [Home] [M History Home] [Indexes]

    Last Modification: 7 Feb 1998, 18:10 MET