On the Discovery of the Galaxy Messier 64 (NGC 4826)

J. Bryn Jones and Hartmut Frommert

As in Kenneth Hewitt-White's recent article in Sky & Telescope [1],
the discovery of spiral galaxy M64 is usually assigned to 
Johann Elert Bode, who discovered this "nebula" on April 4, 1779 [2].
Charles Messier in Paris independently rediscovered it on March 1, 1780 
and cataloged it as M64 [3].

Actually, this object had already been discovered by Edward Pigott in 
Frampton House, Glamorganshire, Wales on March 23, 1779 with an achromatic 
telescope of 3 feet focal length, 12 days before Bode [4]. 
Pigott describes this "Nebula in Coma Berenices" as of "exceedingly weak" 
light, estimated its diameter as two minutes of arc, and determined its 
position, which he estimated acurate to two minutes of arc.

Pigott's position of M64, preceded to epoch J2000.0, is RA 12:56:46, 
Dec +21:41.4, and thus very close to the modern position, RA 12:56:44, 
Dec +21:40.9.

Edward Pigott communicated his discovery to the Astronomer Royal, Nevil 
Maskelyne, in a letter dated September 3, 1779. Maskelyne waited until 
January 11, 1781 when he read the letter before the Royal Society, and
it was subsequently published in the Philosophical Transactions of the 
Royal Society of London. Despite of this publication, Pigott's discovery
was virtually ignored in the standard treats of celestial discovery
[e.g., 5]. 

Although the discovery of a "nebula" is mentioned in some encyclopedic 
publications including "The Dictionary of Scientific Biography" [6] and 
the British "Dictionary of National Biography" [7], is identity was 
apparently never verified until April 2002.  At that time, caused by an 
email inquiry, Bryn Jones analysed the original Pigott paper and 
identified it straightforwardly with M64 [8, 9, 10]. H Frommert missed 
the recovery of this discovery closely: Unaware of Bryn Jones' earlier 
work, having retrieved Pigott's publications list and already wondered
on the title, he only found time for a closer investigation of this 
article in July 2002. At that time, he stumbled over Bryn's webpage, and 
before completely reading, re-analysed Pigott's position, certainly 
recovering and verifying Bryn's earlier findings.


References

1. K. Hewitt-White, 2003. M64: A "Shiner" in Space.
   Sky & Telescope, Vol 105, No. 1 (January 2003), p. 60.

2. Johann Elert Bode, 1779. Astronomisches Jahrbuch für 1782, p. 156.

3. Charles Messier, 1780. Connoissances des temps pour l'annee 1783, p. 
   248.

4. Edward Pigott, 1781. Account of a Nebula in Coma Berenices.
   In a Letter to Nevil Maskelyne, dated September 3, 1779.
   Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London,
   Vol. LXXI (1781), p. 82-83.

5. Kenneth Glyn Jones. Messier's Nebulae and Star Clusters.
   Faber & Faber, 1968 (2nd revised edition: Cambridge University Press, 
   1991). Also: The Search for the Nebulae, 1975.

6. C. Gillispie (ed.). The Dictionary of Scientific Biography.
   Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.
   Article on Edward Pigott and his father, Nathaniel Pigott by Zdenek Kopal.

7. Sir Sidney Lee (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. 
   Vol. XLV, p. 284. Smith, Elder and Co., London 1896.
   Article on Edward Pigott by Agnes M. Clerk.

8. J.B. Jones and H. Frommert, 2002. The Observatory, to be submitted.

9. http://brynjones.members.beeb.net/wastronhist/p_pigotts.html

10. http://messier.seds.org/more/m064_pigott.html



Contact:

Dr. J. Bryn Jones,   Nottingham Astronomy Group.
  School of Physics and Astronomy,  University of Nottingham,
  University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD,  United Kingdom.
   
Dr. Hartmut Frommert, SEDS, University of Arizona Chapter.
  D-80997 Muenchen