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Abbe Nicholas Louis de la Caille's southern deep sky catalogue
Lacaille, de, N-L. (1755) Sur les etoiles nebuleuses du ciel austral. Mem.Acad.R.Sci., 194-199.
The coordinates in the tables below have been precessed to J2000.0 from Lacaille (1755). The English translation of his descriptions were adapted from Jones (1969:215).
Class I: "List of nebulae of the first class." … "Or nebulosities not accompanied by any star visible in a telescope of two feet. ... It is possible that each of these nebulae may really be a faint comet; time did not allow me to decide, by searching the sky, to see if they remained always in the same place."
| # | RA (2000.0) | Declination | Original description |
| I.1 | 00 33 43 | -72° 04' 20" | It resembles the nucleus of a fairly bright small comet. |
| I.2 | 05 38 08 | -69 10 06 | It resembles the preceding, but it is fainter. |
| I.3 | 07 50 55 | -38 35 44 | Large nebulosity of 15' to 20' in diameter. |
| I.4 | 12 59 04 | -70 49 24 | It resembles a small comet, faint. |
| I.5 | 13 26 37 | -47 29 35 | Nebula in Centaurus; it appears to the naked eye like a third magnitude star seen through a thin mist, and in the telescope, like a large, ill-defined comet. |
| I.6 | 13 37 01 | -29 52 59 | Small, formless nebulosity. |
| I.7 | 13 46 09 | -62 56 49 | Small, confused spot. |
| I.8 | 16 25 17 | -40 41 55 | It resembles a fairly large comet without a tail. |
| I.9 | 16 23 36 | -26 33 39 | It resembles a small nucleus of a faint comet. |
| I.10 | 16 55 29 | -39 30 49 | Faint patch, oval and elongated. |
| I.11 | 18 30 02 | -33 32 08 | It resembles a small nucleus of a faint comet. |
| I.12 | 18 36 27 | -23 57 17 | It resembles the preceding. |
| I.13 | 19 27 15 | -71 34 55 | It resembles the preceding. |
| I.14 | 19 40 10 | -30 59 10 | It resembles the faint nucleus of a large comet. |
Class II: "List of nebulous stars in clusters."
| # | RA (2000.0) | Declination | Original description |
| II.1 | 04 02 53 | -44° 26' 38" | A compressed heap of about 12 faint stars of 8th magnitude. |
| II.2 | 07 26 12 | -34 07 20 | Heap of 8 stars of 6th-7th magnitude, which forms, to the naked eye, a nebulosity in the sky. |
| II.3 | 07 58 59 | -60 49 28 | Group of 10 to 12 stars, much compressed. |
| II.4 | 08 11 09 | -37 12 04 | Two neighboring groups of confused stars are seen by the eye but in the telescope they are faint, distinct stars, very numerous and close. |
| II.5 | 08 38 49 | -53 05 03 | Small heap of stars. |
| II.6 | 08 46 41 | -42 15 05 | Heap of seven or eight stars, slightly compressed. |
| II.7 | 10 21 23 | -51 42 50 | Heap of four or five stars, very small and compressed. |
| II.8 | 10 35 51 | -58 12 11 | Small heap of four faint stars forming a lozenge. |
| II.9 | 10 42 57 | -64 23 26 | The star Theta Navis, of the third magnitude or less, surrounded by a large number of stars of sixth, seventh and eighth magnitude, which make it resemble the Pleiades. |
| II.10 | 11 06 27 | -58 39 12 | Prodigious cluster of faint stars, very compressed, filling up in the shape of semi-circle of 20' to 25' in diameter. |
| II.11 | 11 22 55 | -58 19 36 | Seven or eight faint stars compressed in a straight line. |
| II.12 | 12 53 28 | -60 22 12 | Five or six faint stars between two of sixth magnitude. |
| II.13 | 16 54 09 | -41 52 34 | Heap of seven or eight faint compressed stars. |
| II.14 | 17 53 41 | -34 48 09 | Group of 15 or 20 stars, very close together, in the figure of a square. |
Class III: "List of stars accompanied by nebulosity." … "I have not observed a single star above 6th mag which was surrounded or accompanied by nebulosity."
| # | RA (2000.0) | Declination | Original description |
| III.1 | 05 03 18 | -49° 28' 58" | Faint star surrounded by a nebulosity |
| III.2 | 08 10 49 | -49 13 32 | Five faint stars, in the shape of a T, surrounded by nebulosity. |
| III.3 | 08 42 21 | -48 04 52 | Star of 6th magnitude, connected to another more southern one by a nebulous trail. |
| III.4 | 09 27 48 | -56 59 05 | Faint star surrounded by nebulosity. |
| III.5 | 10 43 51 | -60 06 22 | Two faint stars surrounded by nebulosity. |
| III.6 | 10 44 11 | -59 29 39 | Large group of a great number of faint stars, a little compressed, and occupying the space of a semi-circle of 15' to 20' diameter; with a slight nebulosity spreading in that space. |
| III.7 | 11 36 01 | -61 36 56 | Three faint stars close together, enveloped in nebulosity. |
| III.8 | 14 34 56 | -56 36 13 | Two faint stars in a nebulosity. |
| III.9 | 15 22 21 | -59 12 17 | The same [as above] |
| III.10 | 16 03 27 | -60 33 30 | Three faint stars in a straight line, surrounded by nebulosity. |
| III.11 | 17 40 41 | -53 45 40 | Faint star enveloped in a nebulosity. |
| III.12 | 17 40 06 | -32 15 43 | Unusual cluster of faint stars, disposed in three parallel bands, forming a lozenge of 20' to 25' diameter and filled with nebulosity. |
| III.13 | 18 03 52 | -24 24 20 | Three stars enclosed in a trailing nebulosity parallel to the Equator. |
| III.14 | 21 31 27 | -56 55 25 | Two faint stars surrounded by nebulosity. |
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