Giovanni Battista Hodierna (Ragusa, 1597 - Palma di Montechiaro, 1660) was an astronomer at the court of the Duke of Montechiaro. He compiled a catalog of some 40 entries, including at least 19 real and verifiable nebulous objects. Ragusa Ragusa is a city in southern Italy. ... Events 17 January - A court case in Guildford recorded evidence that a certain plot of land was used for playing “kreckett†(i. ... Country Italy Region Sicily Province Agrigento (AG) Mayor Rosario Giorgio Gallo (since May 17, 2005) Elevation 165 m Area 76 km² Population - Total (as of 2001) 21,533 - Density 283/km² Time zone CET, UTC+1 Coordinates Gentilic Palmesi Dialing code 0922 Postal code 92020 Frazioni Villaggio Giordano, Marina di... // Events January 1 - Colonel George Monck with his regiment crosses from Scotland to England at the village of Coldstream and begins advance towards London in support of English Restoration. ... An astronomer or astrophysicist is a person whose area of interest is astronomy or astrophysics. ... An astronomical catalog or catalogue is a list or tabulation of astronomical objects, typically grouped together because they share a common type, morphology, origin, means of detection, or method of discovery. ... The Triangulum Emission Nebula NGC 604 lies in a spiral arm of Galaxy M33, 2. ...
Hodierna's catalogue was the first to treat them as individual unusual objects, fixed amongst the stars, unlike the transient comets that they resembled.
Hodierna separated these observations into three classes: the first called “Luminosae” which appeared as stars to the naked eye; the second “Nebulosae” which were nebulous to the naked eye but were transformed into stars with the telescope; thirdly, “Occultae” which remained unresolved in telescopes therefore strange and unknown.
Hodierna made two woodcuts, the first depicting a naked eye appearance of this dazzling cluster and the second a telescopic one of 33 stars, the seven brightest plotted by latitude and longitude.
GiovanniBattistaHodierna was born on April 13, 1597 in Ragusa, Sicily as the son of Art Vita Dierna, who was either a mason or a shoemaker, according to different sources, and Serafina Rizo.
Hodierna's contributions to astronomy, though interesting and remarkable in particular if one takes his isolated life into account, have been of at best little impact, because his publications had only little circulation and were hardly known outside Sicily.
Hodierna thought there were profound differences between comets and nebulae: Because of the motion and changing appearance of comets, he thought them to be made up of a more terrestrial matter, while nebulae should be made up of stars, and thus "Lux Primogenita".
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