Early Astronomical Photographs   ArtDeCiel.com

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The first known successful image of an astronomical object was of the Moon taken in 1840 by John William Draper, although Louis Daguerre had obtained a blurred image of the Moon a year earlier. In the years that followed images of other astronomical objects were taken, notably: 1850, John Whipple and William Bond, the first photograph of a Star – Vega (Alpha Lyrae); 1851 M. Berkowski , the first photograph of a Total Eclipse of the Sun; 1854, Joseph Bancroft Reade images the Sun’s Photosphere for the first time in detail; 1880, Henry Draper, images a Deep Sky Object for the first time, the Orion Nebula (M42); 1885, Brothers Paul and Prosper Henry took the first successful images a Planet (Jupiter and Saturn). ArtdeCiel provides an online database of Early Astronomical Photographs, which is fully searchable for Object Type (e.g. Galaxy, Nebula etc), Object Name, Imager and Nationality of Imager. For each image the name of the object, the type of object, the constellation in which it is found (if applicable), the name of the imager and the date of the image, as well as a thumbnail of the object is provided. An image gallery of all the early photographs can be accessed by clicking the indicated link.  M51 George Ritchey 1910 M42 Isaac Roberts 1896 Saturn Henry Brothers 1885 Click Here For Gallery (All Types) Constellation Galaxy. Globular Cluster Moon Nebulae Open Cluster Planetary Nebula Planets Star Field Star. Sun Supernova (All Constellations) Andromeda Aquarius Aquila Auriga Camelopardalis Canes Venatici Canis Major Cassiopeia Cepheus Cetus Coma Berenices Cygnus Draco Eridanus Gemini Hercules Leo Major Lynx Lyra Monoceros Ophiuchus Orion Pegasus Perseus Pisces Puppis Sagitta Sagittarius Scorpius Sculptor Scutum Serpens Cauda Sextans Taurus. Triangulum. Ursa Major Virgo Vulpecula Zodiacal (All Imagers) Andrew Ainslie Common Charles Dillon Perrine David Gill Edward Emerson Barnard Edwin Hubble George Phillips Bond George Willis Ritchey Henry Brothers Henry Draper Isaac Roberts James Edward Keeler Jean Bernhard Foucault John Adams Whipple John William Draper Lewis Morris Rutherfurd M. Berkowski Moritz Loewy Pierre Henri Puiseux Pierre Jules Cesar Janssen William Edward Wilson Williamina Paton Stevens Fleming (All Nationalities) Argentina England France Germany Ireland Scotland USA Wales (All Objects) Aquila. Auriga. B33 Cassiopeia. Cepheus. Cetus. Clavius. Comet. Copernicus. Cygnus. Eridanus. First Quarter. Furnerius. Gemini. Jupiter. Lacus Somniorum. Lyra. M1/NGC1952 M100/NGC4321 M101/NGC5457 M104/NGC4594 M106/NGC4258 M108/NGC3556 M11/NGC6705 M12/NGC6218 M13/NGC6205 M14/NGC6402 M16/NGC6611 M17/NGC6618 M2/NGC7089 M20/NGC6514 M24/NGC6603 M27/NGC6853 M3/NGC5272 M31/NGC224 M33/NGC598 M35/NGC2168 M41/NGC2287 M42/NGC1976 M45/NGC1432 M46/NGC2437 M51/NGC5194 M57/NGC6720 M61/NGC4303 M63/NGC5055 M64/NGC4826 M65/NGC3623 M66/NGC3627 M71/NGC6838 M74/NGC628 M76/NGC651 M77/NGC1068 M78/NGC2068 M8/NGC6523 M81/NGC3031 M94/NGC4736 M97/NGC3587 M99/NGC4254 Mare Crisium. Mare Fecundiatis. Mare Frigoris. Mare Humorum. Mare Nectaris. Mare Tranquillatis. Mare Vaporum. Maurolycus. Mel25/C41. Monoceros Moon Full. NGC1499. NGC1528/X25/H VII-61. NGC1977/X32. NGC2024/X34/H V-28. NGC2194/H VI-5. NGC2237/C49. NGC2261/C46. NGC2264/X38/H VIII-5. NGC2403/C7/H V-44. NGC2438/H IV-39. NGC2506/C54/H VI-37. NGC253/C65/H V-1. NGC2683/X47/H I-200. NGC281/X3. NGC2976/H I-285. NGC3079/H V-47. NGC3115/C53/H I-163. NGC3198/H I-199. NGC3226/H II-28. NGC3628/X58/H V-8. NGC3631/H I-226. NGC4244/C26. NGC4449/C21/H I-213. NGC4490/X63/H I-198. NGC4536/H V-2. NGC4559/C36/H I-92. NGC4565/C38/H V-24. NGC4631/C32/H V-42. NGC4656/X67/H I-176. NGC4725/X69/H I-84. NGC4900/H I-143. NGC5866/X75/H I-215. NGC654/H VII-46. NGC6866/X100/H VII-59. NGC6888/C27. NGC6946/C12/H IV-76. NGC6960/C34. NGC6992/C33. NGC7000/C20/H V-37. NGC7023/C4. NGC7044/H VI-24. NGC7086/H VI-32. NGC7142/H VII-66. NGC7217/H II-207. NGC7331/C30/H I-53. NGC7479/C44/H I-55. NGC7789/X108/H VI-30. NGC7814/C43/H II-240. NGC891/C23/H V-19. Ophiuchus. Orion. Perseus. Rho Ophiuchii. Sagitta. Sagittarius. Santbech. Saturn. Scorpius. Solar Photosphere. Sun. Taurus. Theophilus. Tycho. Vulpecula. ZetUMa. Image Object Object Type Constellation Imager Date Details Moon Full. Moon Zodiacal John William Draper 1840 More... Sun. Sun Zodiacal Jean Bernhard Foucault 1845 More... Sun. Sun Zodiacal M. Berkowski 1851 More... First Quarter. Moon Zodiacal John Adams Whipple 1852 More... ZetUMa. Star. Ursa Major George Phillips Bond 1857 More... First Quarter. Moon Zodiacal Lewis Morris Rutherfurd 1865 More... Moon Full. Moon Zodiacal Lewis Morris Rutherfurd 1865 More... Solar Photosphere. Sun Zodiacal Pierre Jules Cesar Janssen 1877 More... Solar Photosphere. Sun Zodiacal Pierre Jules Cesar Janssen 1877 More... M42/NGC1976 Nebulae Orion Henry Draper 1880 More... Comet. Planets Zodiacal Pierre Jules Cesar Janssen 1881 More... Comet. Planets Zodiacal David Gill 1882 More... M42/NGC1976 Nebulae Orion Andrew Ainslie Common 1883 More... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ... >>