Edward Charles Pickering
Colonel Ernest Elliott Markwick first came across what became known as RY Sagittarii during searches for variable stars while posted in Gibraltar. He recorded it dimming from magnitude 7 in July 1893 to fainter than 11 by 23 October that year, and brightening to magnitude 6.4 by November 1894. Edward Charles Pickering wrote that it was a "remarkable object", and "nearly got away". The spectrum was first noted to be peculiar at the time, and by 1953 it was classified as a R Coronae Borealis variable, along with a handful of other stars.