Frédéric Petit (

Muret Muret (; in Gascon Occitan ''Murèth'') is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department, of which it is a subprefecture, in the Occitanie region of southwestern France. Its inhabitants are called ''Muretains''. It is an outer suburb of the ci ...

, 1810 –

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

, 1865) was a French

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

. He was the first director of the

Toulouse Observatory The Toulouse Observatory () is located in Toulouse, France and was established in 1733. It was founded by ''l'Académie des Sciences, Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres de Toulouse'' ("Academy of Science, Inscriptions and the Humanities of Toulouse") ...

, located in

, France, serving from 1838 to 1865. In 1846 he announced that he had discovered a second moon of

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

. 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 Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

in his novel ''

From the Earth to the Moon ''From the Earth to the Moon: A Direct Route in 97 Hours, 20 Minutes'' () is an 1865 novel by Jules Verne. It tells the story of the Baltimore Gun Club, a post-American Civil War society of weapons enthusiasts, and their attempts to build an en ...

''.

References

1810 births 1865 deaths 19th-century French astronomers {{France-astronomer-stub