[glenc (Glen)]

Nicolas Lacaille made the first catalogue of southern clusters and nebulae.
He made his catalogue seven years before Messier started his famous catalogue.

The Frenchman Abbe Nicolas-Louis de la Caille (1713-1762) arrived at Cape Town, South Africa on April 19, 1751. During the next two years he made a catalogue of 9,776 stars that included 42 nebulae and clusters. Lacaille discovered the nebulae and clusters between August 23, 1751 and July 18, 1752. He divided his list of nebulae and clusters into three parts; nebulae without stars, nebulae with stars, and clusters. There are 14 objects in each part. Today the 42 Lacaille objects are classified as 23 open clusters, 7 globular clusters, 4 diffuse nebulae and one galaxy. There are no planetary nebulae and the other 7 objects are asterisms or stars. Messier later included seven Lacaille objects in his catalogue, namely: M4, M6, M7, M8, M22, M55 and M83.
The remaining Lacaille objects were too far south for Messier to see. Lacaille was the first person to make a list of southern non-stellar objects. His list included 22 new objects. It was to be 74 years before James Dunlop made the next search for southern clusters and nebulae.