Item GPP/3/5 - Printed copies of letter written by Edward Pigott read before the Royal Society

1 folder (1 volume)

Bound volume of printed letters written by Edward Pigott and read before the Royal Society, 1779-1797, concerning:

• Account of a nebula in Coma Berenices. Dated September 1779.
• Discovery of a comet. Dated and read November 1783.
• Observations of the comet of 1783. Dated December 1783, read June 1784.
• Observations of a new variable star [Eta Antinoi]. Dated and read December 1784.
• Observations and remarks on those stars which the astronomers of the last century suspected to be changeable. Read February 1786.
• Observation of the late transit of Mercury over the sun. Dated May 1786, read June 1786.
• The latitude and longitude of York, determined from a variety of astronomical observations; together with a recommendation of the method of determining the longitude of places by observations of the moon’s transit over the meridian. Dated March 1786, read June 1786. Pencil note, ‘ See also May 1790’.
• An account of some luminous arches. Dated April 1789, read November 1789.
• Determination of the longitudes and latitudes of several remarkable places near the Severn. Read May 1790.
• ‘Aux éphémérides’, p.97: sheet from a French work on astronomy (probably de Lalande’s
  Ephemerides), giving observations of Mercury made by Pigott at Frampton House in 1778 and 1779. The following page has a handwritten transcript of a letter from M. de Lalande of June 1786, thanking Pigott for the account of his observations of Mercury.
• On the periodical changes of brightness of two fixed stars [in Sobieski’s Shield and the Northern Crown]. Dated August 1796, read January 1797. Pencil note, ‘& a Second Paper in Phil. Trans. for 1805 part 1st’.

Followed by handwritten notes on further observations of the variable in Sobieski’s Shield, up to 1801.

Infolded:-
Notes and calculations of Edward Pigott, dated 1799-1815, referring to comparative magnitude of stars and to comets of 1799 and 1807. Includes some observations made from Fontainebleau in 1803.

At the back is inserted a note from Lady Elizabeth Nash, thanking Mr. Pigott for the loan of the book and mentioning her sighting of the luminous arches referred to above.

Summary and extracts have been provided by a volunteer.

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