Frédéric Petit (astronomer)
Encyclopedia
Frédéric Petit was a French
astronomer
. He was the first director of the Toulouse Observatory
, located in in Toulouse
, France
, serving from 1838–1865. In 1846 he announced that he had discovered a second moon of Earth
. The theory was later dismissed by his peers, although the concept of a second smaller satellite of the Earth was used by Jules Verne
in his novel From the Earth to the Moon
.
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
astronomer
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
. He was the first director of the Toulouse Observatory
Toulouse Observatory
The Observatoire de Toulouse is located in Toulouse, France and was established in 1733. It was founded by l'Académie des Sciences, Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres de Toulouse . It was moved 1841 and again in 1981...
, located in in Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, serving from 1838–1865. In 1846 he announced that he had discovered a second moon of Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
. The theory was later dismissed by his peers, although the concept of a second smaller satellite of the Earth was used by Jules Verne
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
in his novel From the Earth to the Moon
From the Earth to the Moon
From the Earth to the Moon is a humorous science fantasy novel by Jules Verne and is one of the earliest entries in that genre. It tells the story of the president of a post-American Civil War gun club in Baltimore, his rival, a Philadelphia maker of armor, and a Frenchman, who build an enormous...
.