Nicolas Louis de Lacaille

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Introduction References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images

Lacaille, detail from an engraving

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Galaxy clusters like Abell 2744 can act as a natural cosmic lens, magnifying light from more distant, background objects through gravity. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope may be able to detect light from the first stars in the universe if they are gravitationally lensed by such clusters. (astronomy, space exploration, galaxies)

How Fast Is the Universe Expanding?

Planet Earth and lunar moon from space

Where Did the Moon Come From?

solar eclipse, sun, moon, astronomy, space

How Do You Tell the Difference Between Total, Annular, Solar, and Lunar Eclipses?

Arrangement of the phases of the moon in total eclipse with Blood Moon

9 Celestial Omens

1 July 2002: The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) satellite reveals a massive solar eruption more than 30 times the Earth's diameter. The eruption formed when a loop of a magnetic field over the surface of the Sun trapped hot gas.

6 Questions About the Sun Answered

Discover

Super Typhoon Noru over the western tropical Pacific Ocean as observed by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA Aqua satellite July 31 2017

What Is the Difference Between a Typhoon and a Super Typhoon?

Iraqi Army Soldiers from the 9th Mechanized Division learning to operate and maintain M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tanks at Besmaya Combat Training Center, Baghdad, Iraq, 2011. Military training. Iraq war. U.S. Army

8 Deadliest Wars of the 21st Century

Close up of books. Stack of books, pile of books, literature, reading. Homepage 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society

12 Novels Considered the “Greatest Book Ever Written”

An ancient egyptian hieroglyphic painted carving showing the falcon headed god Horus seated on a throne and holding a golden fly whisk. Before him are the Pharoah Seti and the goddess Isis. Interior wall of the temple to Osiris at Abydos, Egypt.

11 Egyptian Gods and Goddesses

Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744-1855), founder of the house of Rothschild; lithograph by Friedrich Lieder, c. 1830.

Where Do Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theories About the Rothschild Family Come From?

A Factory Interior, watercolor, pen and gray ink, graphite, and white goache on wove paper by unknown artist, c. 1871-91; in the Yale Center for British Art. Industrial Revolution England

Inventors and Inventions of the Industrial Revolution

Los Angeles Police Department wanted flyer on Elizabeth Short, aka the "Black Dahlia," who was brutally murdered in January 1947. The FBI supported the Los Angeles Police Department in the case, including by identifying Short through her fingerprints that

America’s 5 Most Notorious Cold Cases (Including One You May Have Thought Was Already Solved)

Nicolas Louis de Lacaille: Facts & Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Facts

Born	May 15, 1713 • France
Died	March 21, 1762 (aged 48) • Paris • France
Subjects Of Study	Caelum • Fornax • Mensa • Microscopium • Norma • Octans • Pictor • Reticulum • Sculptor • constellation • Antlia • Carina • Circinus • Horologium • Puppis • Pyxis • Vela

Photos

Lacaille, detail from an engraving

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How did Ptolemy explain retrograde motion?

Ptolemy

Egyptian astronomer, mathematician, and geographer

Benjamin Apthorp Gould

American astronomer

Johannes Hevelius.

Johannes Hevelius

Polish astronomer

Orion

Johann Bayer

German astronomer

Charles Messier

French astronomer

Félix Tisserand

French astronomer

Hipparchus

Greek astronomer

William Herschel

William Herschel

British-German astronomer

Edmond Halley

Edmond Halley

British scientist

John Herschel

Sir John Herschel, 1st Baronet

English astronomer

Annie Jump Cannon

American astronomer

John Flamsteed

British astronomer

Otto Heckmann at the European Southern Observatory's (ESO's) one-metre Schmidt telescope at La Silla, Chile, 1971.

Otto Heckmann

German astronomer

Frank Schlesinger

American astronomer

Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn

Dutch astronomer

Argelander, Friedrich Wilhelm August

Friedrich Wilhelm August Argelander

Prussian astronomer

Johan Dreyer, c. 1910

Johan Ludvig Emil Dreyer

Danish astronomer

William Wallace Campbell

William Wallace Campbell

American astronomer

Pickering, Edward Charles

Edward Charles Pickering

American physicist and astronomer

Lewis Boss

American astronomer

Quiz

Nicolaus Copernicus. Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543) Polish astronomer. In 1543 he published, forward proof of a Heliocentric (sun centered) universe. Coloured stipple engraving published London 1802. De revolutionibus orbium coelestium libri vi.

All About Astronomy

View of the Andromeda Galaxy (Messier 31, M31).

Astronomy and Space Quiz

Michael Faraday (L) English physicist and chemist (electromagnetism) and John Frederic Daniell (R) British chemist and meteorologist who invented the Daniell cell.

Faces of Science