THESE Catalogues of M. de la CAILLE were taken from the Ephemerid es des Mouvemens Célestes, from 1765 to 1775. The right ascensions in the second Catalogue were determined by taking equal altitudes with a quadrant of three feet radius; but this method of determining the right ascensions is less exact than that by the transit instrument. The declinations in each Catalogue were deduced from the meridian zenith distances observed with a quadrant of six feet radius. The right ascensions in the first Catalogue were settled with a transit instrument, by comparison with the stars in the Fundamenta Astronomiæ; but the right ascensions of the stars in the Fundamenta Astronomia having been settled by equal altitudes, the right ascensions of the stars compared with them must be subject to the same inaccuracy. |