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Lacaille’s Reticulum
Lacaille first published the constellation Reticulum in 1756 on his planisphere
of the southern stars under the name le Réticule Rhomboide; the name was Latinized to Reticulus (sic) on the second edition in 1763 which accompanied his final catalogue, Coelum Australe Stelliferum. The constellation commemorated the cross-hairs in his telescope’s eyepiece which he used for measuring precise star positions. He showed a diagram of the actual device in the introduction to Coelum Australe Stelliferum.
This illustration above comes from a copy of Lacaille’s map published in the Atlas Céleste of Jean Fortin. On Lacaille’s original planisphere “romboide” was spelt without an ‘h’, as it is here. (Image © Ian Ridpath.) |
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