Sidera Lodoicea


Sidera Lodoicea is the name given by the astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini to the four moons of Saturn discovered by him in the years 1671, 1672, and 1684 and published in his Découverte de deux nouvelles planètes autour de Saturne in 1673 and in the Journal des sçavans in 1686. These satellites are today known by the following names, given in 1847:
The name Sidera Lodoicea means "Louisian Stars", from Latin sidus "star" and Lodoiceus, a nonce adjective coined from Lodoicus, one of several Latin forms of the French name Louis. Cassini intended the name to honor King Louis XIV of France, who reigned from 1643 to 1715, and who was Cassini's benefactor as patron of the Paris Observatory, of which Cassini was the director.
The name was modelled on Sidera Medicea, "Medicean stars", the Latin name used by Galileo to name the four Galilean satellites of Jupiter, in honor of the Florentine house of Medici.
The following contemporary notice records Cassini's choice of name, and explains his rationale for the same: