Dossier GPP/1/9 - Draft papers and copy letters from John Goodricke to be read before the Royal Society

1 folder

Letters written by John Goodricke. Many contain astronomical observations, corrections, and annotations.

CONTAINS:
(a) Letter to the Rev Dr Shepherd dated 12 May 1783, concerning observations on the variation in Algol. Read before the Royal Society 15 May 1783.

(b) Letter to the Rev Dr Shepherd dated 8 December 1783, concerning observations on the variation of Algol and including a more precise estimate of the periodicity of Algol. Read before the Royal Society 1 April 1784.

(c) Letter to HG Englefield dated 10 January 1785, concerning observations on the variation of Beta Lyrae. Read before the Royal Society 27 January 1785. Includes an additional note dated 12 January 1785 concering the account.

(d) Letter to the Rev Dr Maskelyne dated 28 June 1785, concerning observations on the variation of Delta Cephei. Read before the Royal Society. A note at the end of the letter indicates that Goodricke wished the paper to be read to the Royal Society, and a pencil note on the front of the letter reads 'printed in the Phil Trans [Philosophical Transactions] 76 p.48'.

(e) Draft pages of a letter containing correction to the estimate of the period of Beta Lyrae; Goodricke writes that he has revised his previous division of the changes into 8 points, deciding that the 7th and 3rd points were the same, so that the period was only half that which had previously been stated. Several pages are drafts of the same section of the letter. On the back of one of the drafts are the words ‘Red-house near York’, and below that ‘J. Goodricke of Red-house’ and ‘Jos. Deighton’.

(f) Part of a draft letter containing corrections to the estimate of the period of Delta Cephei; undated, observations made in June 1785.
EXTRACT:
‘Since I sent you the preceding account, I have made more observations on Delta Cephei, which has enabled me not only to corroborate the phaenomenon, but also to make a few necessary corrections. The following results are more certain [illegible] satisfactory than those mentioned in the above paper.
At its greatest brightness about 1-8 +-
In decreasing 2-14 +-
at its least 1-0 +-
In Increasing 0-12
& the period about 5d-8h-45’.’
Overleaf is a list of the observations, from June 19th to 22nd.

Summary of contents and extracts have been provided by a volunteer.

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