Editing Wanstead (section)

===Astronomy===
In 1707 the astronomer [[James Pound]] became [[Rector (ecclesiastical)|rector]] of Wanstead. In 1717 the [[Royal Society]] lent Pound [[Christiaan Huygens|Huygens]]'s 123-foot focal length object-glass, which he set up in [[Wanstead Park]]. Pound's observations with it of the five known [[satellites of Saturn]] enabled Halley to correct calculations of their movements; and Newton employed, in the third edition of the ''Principia'', his micrometrical measures of Jupiter's disc, of Saturn's disc and ring, and of the elongations of their satellites; and obtained from him data for correcting the places of the [[comet of 1680]]. [[Laplace]] also used Pound's observations of Jupiter's satellites for the determination of the planet's mass; and Pound himself compiled in 1719 a set of tables for the first satellite, into which he introduced an equation for the transmission of light.

Pound trained his sister's son, [[James Bradley]], and many of their observations were made together, including the [[opposition of Mars]] in 1719, and the [[transit of Mercury]] on 29 October 1723. Their measurement of [[γ Virginis]] in 1718 was the first made of the components of a [[double star]] and was directed towards the determination of [[stellar parallax]].

In 1727, Bradley embarked upon a series of observations using a telescope of his own, erected at the rectory in Wanstead, now the site of [[Wanstead High School]]. This instrument had the advantage of a large field of view and he was able to obtain precise positions of a large number of stars that transited close to the zenith over the course of about two years. Combined with observations from [[Kew Palace#Fortreys and Capels|his friend Samuel Molyneux's house]] at Kew in Surrey, this established the existence of the phenomenon of [[aberration of light]], and also allowed Bradley to formulate a set of rules that would allow the calculation of the effect on any given star at a specified date.