From the Cape of Good Hope (in modern South Africa) he surveyed the southern skies in 1751–3. He discovered 24 new nebulae and clusters, and charted the positions of nearly 10 000 stars. While there he measured the position of the Moon simultaneously with J. J. de Lalande in Berlin to obtain an accurate value of its distance. In 1756 Lacaille published a star chart which introduced 14 new southern constellations (see Table 3, Appendix); his full southern star catalogue, Coelum australe stelliferum, was published posthumously in 1763.