Between 1801 and 1827 Jean-Louis Pons discovered thirty-seven comets, more than anyone else in history.
The astronomer Jean-Louis Pons was called to direct the observatory. While waiting for the building to be completed he began observing the sky anyway, and during his years in the Duchy of Lucca, from late 1819 to late 1824, he discovered six new comets.
Pons spent most of his career between two observatories that deeply shaped his work: the Marseille Observatory and La Specola.
After years in Marseille, where he sharpened his skills as an observer and found many comets, in 1819 he moved to Italy to direct La Specola. The place proved crucial to his research: with the support of the government of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, Pons carried on his tireless work, establishing the observatory as a centre of astronomical research.
Comet 289P/Blanpain has a story that ties it to both France and Italy, and to La Specola in particular, where Jean-Louis Pons found it independently in December 1819.
Only in 2003 was a small object, designated 2003 WY25, spotted on an orbit similar to that of the lost comet. In 2013 it showed signs of activity again and was officially reclassified as 289P/Blanpain. Today it is thought to be the likely source of the Phoenicid meteor shower.
JPL record ↗Comet C/1821 B1 (Nicollet-Pons) is a non-periodic comet discovered independently on 21 January 1821 by Jean-Louis Pons and Joseph Nicolas Nicollet. Pons found it at La Specola; Nicollet observed it separately in France.
After its discovery it stayed visible for several months, bright enough to be seen with the naked eye. It reached perihelion on 16 March 1821, passing about 0.78 astronomical units from the Sun.
The study of its orbit showed an inclination of about 36 degrees to the ecliptic: a comet bound to leave the Solar System, never to return.
JPL record ↗The discovery came on 14 May 1822, when Pons, by then director of the observatory, noticed a new bright object moving across the sky. The comet turned out to be non-periodic, on an extremely elongated orbit.
JPL record ↗Comet C/1822 N1 is a non-periodic comet discovered on 1 July 1822 by Jean-Louis Pons at La Specola. Observed for about two months, it grew bright enough to be visible to the naked eye.
Its discovery added to La Specola’s reputation as an important centre of astronomical observation.
JPL record ↗Comet C/1825 N1 is a non-periodic comet discovered in July 1825 by Jean-Louis Pons while he was working at La Specola. It came late in his career, shortly before he left Tuscany to direct the Palermo Observatory.
JPL record ↗