Born in
Whitton in west London in 1753, with his father Nathaniel Pigott he
led a vagrant type life always travelling around, in England and
Europe in particular France. In Caen between 1763 and 1769 they
observed the Partial eclipse of the Sun in 1765 and Transit of Venus in
1769.
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| Edward Pigott |
Due to
various connections the Pigott`s were asked by Prime Minster Prince
Staremberg to complete a cartographic survey of the principal towns
in the Austrian Netherlands. Using a clock, and a 6 ft Dolland
telescope. They measured the locations of Namur, Luxembourg, Antwerp,
Ostend, Tournay, Brussels and Louvain in 1772/3.
In 1777 they
moved back to England to Gloucestershire then to Frampton House in
Glamorganshire. Ships sailing up the river Severn often grounded, the
charts showed the river to be 20 miles between Llantwit Major and
Watchet in Somerset. The Pigotts measured the distance and found it
to be only 13 miles wide.
At this time
they had between them the 6 ft Dolland, a 2.5 inch achromatic by
Watkins, a 5 inch reflector by Heath and Wing they also had clocks,
two mural quadrants in an observatory on two levels
On March 23,
1779, from Frampton House in Glamorganshire Edward Pigott discovered
a "nebula" in Coma Berenices, which later became known as
M64 . Today M64 is known as the Black Eye Galaxy. This
discovery occurred just 12 days before that by Bode and roughly a
year before Messier's independent rediscovery of this object.
In 1781 they
moved to York where they rebuilt their observatory which was
considered one of the best in the country in private hands. Edward
Pigott would work with John Goodricke the deaf astronomer where they
would become the ‘Fathers of Variable Star Astronomy’.
They Pigotts
moved to York because in 1773 Lord Faifax of Gilling Castle had died
leaving an unmarried daughter Lady Anne Faifax as his heir to the
estate. The Pigotts were distantly related to the Fairfax’s and
Nathaniel Pigott saw this as his chance to move in and take over the
estate.
He persuaded
Lady Anne Fairfax to let him run the estate; she was duped into
signing the estate to him. She only had one ally her chaplain John
Bolton, anyone who opposed Nathaniel Piggot was dealt with harshly.
The case would eventually go to court and there would be a private
act of Parliament which in 1802 allowed for Nathaniel Pigotts second
son Charles Gregory to inherit everything rather than the first born, Edward Pigott.
Edward Pigott
was completely different from his father and was what we wouild
describe today as being very easy going and laid back.
On November 19th 1783
Edward Pigott discovered a comet in Cetus. D/1783 W1 Pigott was the first Englishman
to have discovered a comet, and then have it named after him. It was
aroung magnitude 6 and has an orbital period of 5.89 years. The comet
was then lost. On the night of January 5, 2003, the Lincoln Near
Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) program located in New Mexico (USA)
found an asteroidal object on three images obtained using their 1.0-m
telescope. It was then lost again. In 2010 the comet was re
discovered again and is now known as 226P/Pigott-LINEAR-Kowalski
Pigotts' and
Goodrickes' knowledge of the sky was about to provide a rich harvest.
The night of September 10th 1784 was about to become a night to
remember. Goodricke discovered Beta Lyra an ellipsoidal variable
while Pigott discovered Eta Aquila a Cepheid variable.
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| eta Aquila |
After
Goodrickes death in 1786 Pigott moved to the city of Bath where in
1795 he discovered the variable star R Scutum and R Corona Borealis
the famous star that often disappears from view for months at a time.
In 1802 while
visiting friends in France during a period of peace between the two
countries he was detained when war broke out again and placed under
house arrest. However after the French government was petitioned by
French and British astronomers he was released and given safe passage
to Calais where he returned to England.
His last
astronomical observations were of the great comet of 1811.
Edward Pigott
died on June 27, 1825.
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