The observatory was attacked, and he was imprisoned, during the Sicilian Revolution of 1820, but he survived to restore the facility and lead it for two more decades.

[1] In addition to astronomy, he was an expert on meteorology, and wrote a number of books on the subject.

[1] Cacciatore was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1837.

Eventually the Reverend Thomas William Webb, a British astronomer, puzzled out the explanation.

[1][3] Cacciatore's name, Nicholas Hunter in English translation, would be Latinized to Nicolaus Venator.