English astronomer
Edward Pigott
Born 1753 (1753 ) Died 1825 (aged 71–72) Scientific career Fields Astronomy
Edward Pigott (1753–1825) was an Englishastronomer notable for being one of the founders of the study ofvariable stars .[ 1] [ 2] [ 3] [ 4] Messier 64 , on April 4, 1779.[ 5]
Son of the astronomerNathaniel Pigott , Pigott's work focused onvariable stars . Educated in France with a mother fromLouvain , the family moved toYork in 1781. Despite their significant age difference, he was a friend and collaborator ofJohn Goodricke (his distant cousin[ 2] [ 6]
In 1784, Pigott informed theRoyal Society of his discovery of a new variable star.[ 7] Eta Aquilae which he had identified the previous year.[ 8] William Herschel [ 9] Nevil Maskelyne .[ 10]
Pigott moved toBath in 1796.[ 2] York City Archives .
Asteroid10220 Pigott is named after Edward and his father. It was discovered byR. A. Tucker at the observatory inTucson, Arizona whichbears Pigott's name and that of his friend Goodricke .
^ Clerke, Agnes Mary ."Pigott, Edward" Lee, Sidney (ed.).Dictionary of National Biography ^a b c McConnell, Anita (2004)."Pigott, Nathaniel" .Pigott, Nathaniel (1725–1804), astronomer .Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Oxford University Press .doi :10.1093/ref:odnb/22254 . ^ Kopal, Zdeněk (1974). "Pigott, Edward, and Pigott, Nathaniel". In Gillispie, C. C. (ed.).Dictionary of Scientific Biography Charles Scribner’s Sons . pp. 607– 608.^ McConnell, A.; Brech, A. (1999). "Nathaniel and Edward Pigott, Itinerant Astronomers".Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London 53 (3).Royal Society of London :305– 318.doi :10.1098/rsnr.1999.0084 .S2CID 145568378 . ^ http://www.messier.seds.org/m/m064.html ^ Hoskin, Michael (1979). "Goodricke, Pigott and the Quest for Variable Stars".Journal for the History of Astronomy 10 (1):23– 41.Bibcode :1979JHA....10...23H .doi :10.1177/002182867901000103 .S2CID 118155505 . ^ Pigott, Edward (1785). "Observations of a New Variable Star".Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society .75 :127– 136.Bibcode :1785RSPT...75..127P .doi :10.1098/rstl.1785.0007 .S2CID 186212958 . ^ Jones, Bryn."Nathaniel Pigott and Edward Pigott" .A History of Astronomy in Wales . Archived fromthe original on 18 September 2015. Retrieved23 April 2014 . ^ "William Herschel writes to fellow astronomer Edward Pigott" .Huntington Digital Library . Retrieved22 April 2014 .^ "Observations of the Comet of 1783" .Archive.org . January 1784. Retrieved22 April 2014 .
