Thursday, 20 March 2025

Snow on Mars seen from Liverpool with a Cooke telescope in 1865

 Mr Joynson of Liverpool on the opposition of Mars in 1865 using a Thomas Cooke and Sons 6 inch telescope which had a focal length of 7 feet and 6 inches and with eyepiece powers from100 tom 550, he also used a Barlow lens up to 1,100. 

Joynson found that no increase of power altered the aspect of Mars, nor did he detect any difference in the markings of Mars since 1862. The snow at the Noth Pole was not visible in 1864. In 1865 the snow at the pole was not so surprisingly marked as usual, and a nearly equatorial belt was very prominent.


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Wednesday, 19 March 2025

Frederick Longbottom ,a Thomas Cooke telescope and the formation of Chester Astronomical Society

Mr Frederick Longbottom 1850-1933 was born in Scarborough the family would move to Worcestershire where they would become hop merchants.  When he retired he was able to devote much more time to his favourite hobby, astronomy. 

He had a 6 inch Thomas Cooke and Sons telescope which he had before 1896 because he took it with him to Norway to try to observe the eclipse of the Sun. He also went on eclipse trips to Algiers in 1900 and Spain in 1905. He was at Giggleswick for the 1927 eclipse of the Sun. He helped to form the Chester Astronomical Society.

 He eventually left the north of England and settled in Boscombe in Hampshire and it was from here that Longbottom was able in early June 1928 to see the planet Mercury in the day time sky using the 6 inch telescope.


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Tuesday, 18 March 2025

Thomas Cooke telescope for a bank in LIverpool

 James Leigh 1838- 1895 was born in Liverpool was a banker by profession, and from 1876 until his death he was the manager of the Metropolitan Bank of England and Wales. He was particularly interested in observing the Moon  and double stars. 

He had a 4 inch Thomas Cooke and Sons telescope and his address was given as Bank, King Street Liverpool.


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Monday, 17 March 2025

The Astronomy Show on Drystone Radio

 Join me, Martin Lunn MBE tonight and every Monday evening from 7.00 pm-9.00 pm on the award winning Astronomy Show on Drystone Radio, probably the only regular astronomy show on any radio station in the country. 

I will take my weekly look at the night sky and look at all the latest news in astronomy. There will be the astronomical anniversaries this week plus the latest news from the astronomical societies in the north of England.


The Astronomy Show every Monday evening only on Drystone Radio live online at www.drystoneradio.com DAB radio in Bradford and East Lancashire, or 102 and 103.5 FM and can also be heard later on the Drystone Radio Podcast.

Sunday, 16 March 2025

Edward Pigott 1753-1825 one of the Fathers of Variable Star Astronomy

 Edward’s branch of the Pigott family can be traced back to Adam Pigott who died in 1737, it was Adam Pigott and James Allen who in 1678 negotiated a lease from the Duke of Bedford for the construction of Covent Garden Market. Edward’ s grandfather Ralph married Alethea daughter of William eighth viscount Fairfax of Emley and owner of Gilling Castle in Yorkshire. You need to remember Gilling Castle it will come into our story later.

Ralph’s son Nathaniel was the father of Edward and was also an astronomer, but their characters were very different. Their story could resemble an astronomical soap opera.  Edward could be described as someone who was not phased by anything or anyone and was always a calm character. He never appeared to get flustered and was always very generous when working with colleagues. He also was someone who knew everyone who was anyone in the field of astronomy.

Nathaniel will be the bad guy in the story as will become apparent later. It was probably due to this that Edward was much closer to his mother Anna Mathurine De Beriot of Javingue, which was then in the Austrian Netherlands. Today this area is northwester and central Belgium and most of Luxembourg.

Edward was born possibly in Whitton in Middlesex in 1753 and went to Thomas Plunket’s school in Hammersmith and apparently learned nothing. The Pigott’s were the poor relations of the landed Fairfax’s of Gilling in Yorkshire the Pigott’s would lead somewhat of a vagrant life. They stayed in rented property in parts of Britain and on the continent either with family or friends. Edward lived with his parents in France from 1763-1771.

Edward Pigott

Edward’s father Nathaniel was also an accomplished surveyor as well as an  astronomer although it is unclear how he became interested in the subject. It was this interest in astronomy that must have impressed the young Edward. Nathaniel had purchased some of the best telescopes available at that time. Nathaniel with the help of Edward observed the partial eclipse of the Sun on August 16th, 1765, in France.

While in France they also observed the transit of Venus on June 3rd, 1769. Transits of Venus are very rare and only 7 have been observed since the invention of the telescope in 1608. A transit occurs when a planet closer to the Sun the Earth can be seen passing over the disk of the Sun. The only planets that can do this are Mercury and Venus. The last transits of Venus were in 2004 and 2012 I was lucky enough to see the 2004 transit the next will not be until 2117 and 2125.

In 1771 both Nathaniel and Edward were in Britain visiting both London and Gilling Castle which greatly impressed Nathaniel. Edward caused some interest because of his dress code, having spent a large part of his life in France he dressed in the French fashion with a large, brimmed hat, fluff collars and cuffs and long flowing coats. This very colourful style of dress was not usually seen in conservative Britain.

In 1772 the Pigott’s met representatives of the Austrian Netherlands government through various contacts they had with the Brussels Imperial Academy. They were asked to work out geographically the locations of the principal cities within the Austrian Netherlands. This was accomplished by determining the positions of buildings and towns in relation to the known positions of certain celestial objects.

In 1773 Lord Fairfax of Gilling died and his property passed to his elderly and unmarried daughter, Lady Anne Fairfax. It was her chaplain John Bolton who managed the estate but in 1775 when Nathaniel Pigott settled at Gilling that the problems really started. Nathaniel Pigott wanted to manage the estates of his cousin, with a view to owning the estate. He managed to persuade her to go to London while she was unwell and let him run the estate. He made her sign some articles of agreement which would give Pigott £250 per year to manage the estate. Nathaniel was not a particularly nice person, and he would make life difficult for anyone who got in the way of his plans. In this case owning the Gilling Castle Estate. He did his very best to discredit John Bolton who was a great supporter of Lady Anne Fairfax at  every opportunity.

It was at this time that the Pigott’s stayed briefly with another relative Lady Widdrington at Wickhill House near Stow on the Wold, Gloucestershire. They then moved to another of the Pigott estates and to Frampton Hall near Llantwit Major in Glamorganshire where an observatory was built. The observatory was lavishly equipped with no less than 4 telescopes plus other astronomical equipment for recording the positions of the stars and clocks for working out the time for their locality.

It was now that Edward’s career in astronomy would really begin having assisted his father in making observations of the night sky while in France, he had acquired a good knowledge of the sky and how to make and record observations.

However bizarrely they set to work not on an astronomical problem but on a problem on the width of the River Severn. The maps that were produced at the time indicated the width of the river between Llantwit and Watchet on the Somerset shore was between 20 to 21 miles. The Pigott using their knowledge of the positions of the stars and mathematics worked out that the River Severn at this point was only 13 miles wide. This went a long way to explain why some many ships were running around in the area.

Edward now turned his attention to astronomy and to the stars,  while at Frampton House he discovered a nebula in the constellation of Coma Berenices.

 

Coma Berenices or Berenices Hair is a faint constellation with no bright stars.  The constellation can be found when the sky is clear but if there is any haze around, the area will appear blank.

 

Edward Pigott made this discovery on the 23rd of March 1779 twelve days before the German astronomer Johann Bode saw the nebula. This nebula that Pigott had discovered was in fact a spiral shaped galaxy lying at around 17 million light years from Earth.

The galaxy the Pigott had discovered is known today as the Black Eye Galaxy, it is so named because there is a lot of dust between us and the central part of the galaxy which is very bright but the dust blocking the light makes it look as if the galaxy has a black eye.

In 1781 the Pigott’s moved to York there was great expectations of Nathaniel taking over the running of what was left of the Gilling estate. They moved to a house in Bootham near Bootham Bar. They built an observatory consisting of two octagonal rooms on top of each other. The observatory was 14 feet in diameter and was completed in May 1781 it was one of the most well-equipped observatories in the country.

Edward wrote to William Herschel who was a good friend regarding his move to York, however in March 1781 Herschel had stunned the astronomical world when he discovered the planet, we now call Uranus from his home in Bath using a telescope that he made himself. It was completely unexpected, there were five known planets, the Sun and Moon which made the mystical number of seven. The discovery made Herschel the most famous astronomer of this time.

Edward’s connections in the world of science were about to be used to the fullest as it was by good fortune that in 1781 John Goodricke would join him in York and their astronomical adventures were about to begin. They had both already been observing a star in Perseus call Algol or the Winking Demon.

Most of the star names are Arabic and Algol means the winking demon. The star varies in brightness so is classified as a variable star. This variability was discovered by the Italian astronomer Montanari in 1669. The name Algol or winking demon suggests that maybe the Arab astronomers of a 1,000 years ago thought it varied in brightness although we have no proof of this.

Edward Pigott and John Goodricke would become the fathers off Variable Star Astronomy. This was because they were the pioneers in this field of astronomical research into variable stars. They worked together in York between 1781 -1786 until the early death of Goodricke at the age of 22. Goodricke was deaf but there was absolutely nothing wrong with his thinking processes.

John Goodricke observed from the Treasurer’ House in York and Edward Pigott from his observatory in Bootham in York around about a quarter of a mile away.

They noticed that the changes in light variation were very regular. They noted that it changed brightness in just under every three days before returning to normal brightness. The cycle then repeated itself regularly. The whole cycle could be followed by the naked eye. In other words, no telescope was needed to follow the light changes in the star.

It appears as if both Goodricke and Pigott suggested that there were two objects orbiting each other and eclipsing each other and causing the light changes in the Algol. They were correct. It would be about 100 years later that astronomers could prove their theory to be correct.

Astronomers today use this same principle when they notice tiny changes in light from stars suggesting that there might be an object or planet passing in front of the star and therefore orbiting that star. Of over 4,000 exoplanets or planets that are known to orbit other stars around 1,000 have been used using this method.

Goodricke and Pigott were over 200 years ahead of their time with their thinking.

Although Goodricke gets most of the praise it was a joint effort, Pigott because of all his astronomical contacts made sure that the work that Goodricke was published.   Goodricke was only 19 years old and unknown while Pigott through his contacts knew everyone worth knowing in the field of astronomy. Pigott seemed to be quite content for Goodricke to get the praises.

He encouraged Goodricke to send his paper to London where in 1783 the paper on the star Algol was read to the Royal Society. It bought him instant recognition throughout the astronomical world and would lead to him being presented with the Copley Medal the most prestigious award that could be given to a scientist.

They continued to observe the stars and in November 1783 Edward Pigott would become the first person to discover a comet from York and the first Englishman to have a comet he discovered named after him.

September 10th, 1784 would become a night to remember in York when both Edward Pigott and John Goodricke each discovered a new variable star. Edward Pigott discovered the star eta Aquila varied while John Goodricke discovered the variability of beta Lyra. Until this point in time only 5 variable stars were known to astronomers, here on one night a further two were added to that list.

This would be Pigott’s last astronomical discovery in York, in 1785 he left for a two-year visit to France and while he was away, John Goodricke died. On his return he stayed in York until 1793 when his mother died, and he then moved to the city of Bath. He them returned to studying the night sky. In 1795 he would discover two more variable stars, R Corona Borealis and R Scutum.

I just need to finish off the story of Gilling Castle because Lady Anne Fairfax died in 1793 with Nathaniel Pigott becoming owner of Gilling Castle an act or Parliament was needed to allow the Pigott family to take the Fairfax name and inherit the castle. This was done in 1802 and Nathaniel decided that his second son Charles Gregory should inherit Gilling Castle rather than his eldest son Edward. Nathaniel would die in 1804.

In 1802 during the treaty of Amiens between Britian and France Pigott returned to France to meet friends. This was possibly not the best thing to do because in 1804 war broke out again and he was placed under house arrest in Fontainebleau. He was released in 1806 after British and French scientists had petitioned the French government for his release. He was given safe passage back to Calais under instructions by Napoleon.

On his return to England, he carried on with his astronomy and a new passion the study Phycology or Seaweed a subject in which he became something of an expert.

He made some observations of the great comet of 1811 but as he said to his great friend Sir William Herschel in 1821, he was getting older and finding it more difficult to move around.

Edward Pigott died in the 27th June 1825 in the city of Bath, in accordance with his wishes his body was transported to Bridlington where he was to buried next to his mother in Bridlington Priory.

  


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Saturday, 15 March 2025

Edward Pigott and the discovery of R Scutum in 1795

This year is the 200th anniversary of the death of Edward Pigott one of the ‘Fathers of Variable Star Astronomy’ this was a title I gave him and the deaf astronomer John Goodricke who between 1781-1786 would make incredible advances in the discovery and study of the branch of astronomy we know of today as variable stars.

 Pigott was born in Whitton, west London in 1753 and died on June 27th, 1825. His life would make an incredible soap opera story, but much more of that later.

Edward Pigott


Here is another of a series of highlights from his incredible career.

The year 1795 was a busy one for Edward Pigott and his search for variable stars. He had already identified the star R Corona Borealis to be a variable star and now he was about to discover another one. R Scutum.

In the 18th century at the time of Edward Pigott this star was in the constellation known to him as Sobieski ‘s Shield. This constellation is a modern constellation compared to the ancient Greek ones. It was Johannes Hevelius the Polish astronomer who created the constellation in 1684 to commemorate the victory of King John Sobieski over the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Vienna in 1683. Today the constellation is simply known as Scutum the Shield.

Pigott said that there are very few stars in the constellation and that this star was not recorded by Hevelius. This would suggest that Hevelius created the constellation the star was at its faintest and therefore not seen by Hevelius.

Looking at his notes he first saw R Scutum in September 1795 and quickly realised that it changed in brightness. He believed it had a period of around 63 days, a period he would have worked out towards the end of 1795. and varied in brightness between magnitude 5 and magnitude 7.8. Unlike R CrB which faded from view when at its faintest Pigott could follow this star through its cycle of light changes.

Pigott would observe R Scutum through until October 1801. I assume that because he could follow the complete cycle it was easier to study than R CrB which was far more irregular in nature and at its faintest disappeared.

Today astronomers recognise R Scutum as a RV Taurus type of variable star. Strangely though R Scutum is brighter than the named star of this type. These stars vary in a regular and irregular way and are not very well understood. Astronomers today are still trying to work out makes these stars tick. 

Astronomers today know that R Scutum varies between magnitude 4.2 to 8.6 so Pigott’s estimate of magnitude 5 and 7.8 was close to modern day estimates. However, one area that Pigott got wrong was the length of time it took the star to vary in brightness, he thought it was 63 days we know today it is around 146 days



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Friday, 14 March 2025

Edward Pigott and the discovery of R Corona Borealis in 1795

This year is the 200th anniversary of the death of Edward Pigott one of the ‘Fathers of Variable Star Astronomy’ this was a title I gave him and the deaf astronomer John Goodricke who between 1781-1786 would make incredible advances in the discovery and study of the branch of astronomy we know of today as variable stars.

 Pigott was born in Whitton, west London in 1753 and died on June 27th, 1825. His life would make an incredible soap opera story, but much more of that later.

Edward Pigott

Here is another of a series of highlights from his incredible career.

Following the death of his friend and colleague John Goodricke in York in 1786, Edward Pigott finally decided to leave York and move to the city of Bath in1793. He would soon start looking for variable stars.

One of the stars he was following was in the constellation of Corona Borealis the Northern Crown. This star which we recognise today as the star R Corona Borealis (RcB) is the prototype star of a group of only about 150 stars of this type. 

Pigott started observing the star from July 1783 while he was in York, by the spring of 1795 he was able to confirm that it varies in brightness. He would continue to monitor the star through 1796. When at its maximum brightness it was of the 6th magnitude just about visible to the naked eye under the very best of condition but when at its faintest it was invisible in Pigott’s telescope. Pigott identifies this period of light variation taking around ten and a half months.

Pigott stated that although it was not in the catalogue of John Flamsteed of 1725 it  was listed in the star atlas of Johann Bayer from 1603 as being of the 6th magnitude. This would suggest that it was at its brightest when Bayer produced his star atlas.

Pigott noted that when R CrB was either fading or brightening it did so at an uneven rate. This was different to the stars Algol and eta Aquila that he had observed, the light curve on a graph of Algol and eta Aquila were very smooth while that of R CrB was more jagged. He was very curious to the fact that it disappeared for a period before re appearing. He believed that further observations would be needed to confirm the period of ten and a half months for this star was correct or not.

Today astronomers know that the star will remain at it brightest for many months or even years before fading in brightness. It will then return over a long of time period to its brightest. Pigott was wrong in his calculation that R CrB varied over a period of about ten and a half months. This was simply since he was not able to observe the star for a long enough period to see how irregular the light variations were.

As I mentioned R CrB is the prototype star for this small group of stars. The cooling is caused by a cloud of soot which forms around the star from the condensation of carbon rich dust in the star. As the dust cloud forms the star is masked by this cloud of dust, the brightness of the star is affected, and we see the star fade in brightness. Then when the cloud of soot clears R CrB returns to normal brightness.

R CrB is an old star and is only one of two stars in this class that can be seen with the naked eye the other is RY Sagittarius. All the other stars in this class need telescopes to follow their cycles.


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