Edward Pigott

Edward Pigott (* 1753 in Whitton , Middlesex , † June 27, 1825 in Bath ) was a British astronomer .

Edward Pigott was the son of Nathaniel Pigott (1725-1804), also a British astronomer, and Anna Mathurine de Bériot. Edward had four siblings in total.

Together with his father he worked as an astronomer. He observed the moons of Jupiter and the transit of Venus on June 3, 1769 near Caen .

In "Frampton House", Glamorganshire , he discovered a nebula in the constellation Haar der Berenike on March 23, 1779 , which later became known as Messier 64 . He made this discovery 12 days before Johann Elert Bode and about a year before Charles Messier , who discovered the same foggy object independently. This discovery was only awarded to him by Bryn Jones of Wales in 2002. Its observation was likely forgotten due to its late publication in 1781. This took place in the Philosophical Transactions , published by the Royal Society of London .

Edward Pigott discovered the great comet of 1783 ( 226P / Pigott-LINEAR-Kowalski ) on November 19, 1783 in York . This comet has also been observed by several other astronomers, including Pierre Méchain on November 26, and Charles Messier.

On September 10, 1784, Edward Pigott discovered the mutability of Eta Aquilae , then known as "Eta Antinoi ". Eta Aquilae was one of the first known Cepheids .

In the years that followed, Pigott and his neighbor and friend John Goodricke continued observing variable stars.

In honor of Edward Pigott and his father, the asteroid (10220) Pigott was named after them, which was discovered on October 20, 1997 by Roy Tucker at the Goodricke-Pigott Observatory .

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personal data
SURNAME	Pigott, Edward
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	British astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH	1753
PLACE OF BIRTH	Whitton (London)
DATE OF DEATH	June 27, 1825
Place of death	Bath