Giovanni Battista Hodierna

Giovanni Battista Hodierna, also spelled as Odierna (April 13, 1597 – April 6, 1660)[1] was an Italian astronomer at the court of Giulio Tomasi, Duke of Palma (Palma di Montechiaro). He compiled a catalogue of comets and other celestial objects containing some 40 entries, including at least 19 real and verifiable nebulous objects that might be confused with comets.

Giovan Battista Odierna

Biography

Hodierna was born in Ragusa, Sicily and died in Palma di Montechiaro. While serving as a Roman Catholic priest in Ragusa, he also practised astronomy.[1]

In 1654 he published a book entitled De systemate orbis cometici, deque admirandis coeli characteribus that contained a catalogue of celestial objects. The work anticipated Messier's catalogue, but had little impact. Messier seems not to have known of it.[2][3]

See also
  • List of Roman Catholic scientist-clerics

References
  1. "Giovanni Battista Hodierna". SEDS. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
  2. Birthday for a star cluster: Charles Messier, Astronomy Now, January 2011, page 20.
  3. Fodera-Serio, G.; Indorato, L.; Nastasi, P. (February 1985), "Hodierna's Observations of Nebulae and his Cosmology", Journal for the History of Astronomy, 16 (1): 1, Bibcode:1985JHA....16....1F, doi:10.1177/002182868501600101, S2CID 118328541


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