Chacornac, Jean

Born Lyons, France, 21 June 1823

Died Saint Jean en Royans, Rhône, France, 6 September 1873

Jean Chacornac was a dedicated observational astronomer. He began a career in commerce in Lyons and then Marseilles, where Jean Valz, director of the Marseilles Observatory, allowed him to use the telescopes. Chacornac studied sunspots and in 1852 discovered a comet (C/1852 K1). Thenceforth he devoted himself fully to astronomy, assisting Valz in the discovery of minor planets and the essential precursor of ecliptic mapping.

Chacornac transferred to Paris as part of Urbain Le Verrier's reform of the Paris Observatory in 1854, where