''Histoire céleste française'' (''French Celestial History'') is an
astrometric
Astrometry is a branch of astronomy that involves precise measurements of the positions and movements of stars and other celestial bodies. It provides the kinematics and physical origin of the Solar System and this galaxy, the Milky Way.
Histor ...
star catalogue
A star catalogue is an astronomical catalogue that lists stars. In astronomy, many stars are referred to simply by catalogue numbers. There are a great many different star catalogues which have been produced for different purposes over the years, ...
published in 1801 by the French astronomer
Jérôme Lalande and his staff at the
Paris Observatory
The Paris Observatory (french: Observatoire de Paris ), a research institution of the Paris Sciences et Lettres University, is the foremost astronomical observatory of France, and one of the largest astronomical centers in the world. Its histor ...
. This star catalog consists of the locations and
apparent magnitudes of 47,390 stars, up to magnitude 9. Stars are identified by common name,
Bayer designation
A Bayer designation is a stellar designation in which a specific star is identified by a Greek or Latin letter followed by the genitive form of its parent constellation's Latin name. The original list of Bayer designations contained 1,564 stars. ...
or
Flamsteed designation, when available. It also contains observations of other astronomical phenomena. It was the largest and most complete star catalog of its day. This publication is a collection of several books of astronomical recordings taken over the previous decade at the observatory.
A significant rewriting of this popular catalog was published by
Francis Baily in 1847. It is from this catalog that the star reference numbers were assigned that continue in use to this day, such as for ''
Lalande 21185
Lalande 21185 (also known as BD+36 2147, Gliese 411, and HD 95735) is a star in the south of Ursa Major. It is the apparent brightest red dwarf in the northern hemisphere.Only AX Microscopii and Lacaille 9352, in the southern hemisphere ...
''.
Modern star catalogs, such as
SIMBAD, use the format ''LAL NNNNN'' where ''NNNNN'' is the 1847 catalog reference number, from 1 to 47390.
[SIMBAD]
©UDS/CNRS SIMBAD Lalande stars
(retrieved 23:20, 11 September 2009).
References
Further reading
*
External links
1801 non-fiction books
Astronomical catalogues
Astronomical catalogues of stars
Astronomical surveys
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