This was the first variable star to be discovered, having been noticed in 1596 by David Fabricius, who thought it was a new star (a Nova).
The variable star Lyrae, which is typical of another class, was also discovered by Goodricke in 1784.
The results of his observations of nebulae are contained in two catalogues published in the Astronomische Beobachtungen der Grossherzoglichen Sternwarte zu Mannheim, 1st and 2nd parts (1862 and 1875), and those of his variable star observations appeared in the Jahresberichte des Mannheimer Vereins fur Naturkunde, Nos.