“Xavier Debeerst is one of the world’s experts on astrophotography, telescopes, and astronomical ephemera.”
– Joshua Chuang, Chief Curator, Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, AZ
It’s always nice to start a presentation with such a quote.
My astronomical and photographic adventure started about 40 years ago (don’t ask my age) with my first telescope and camera. The adventure took serious proportions with my studies in photography at the Royal Academy for Fine Arts in Ghent, Belgium. A school with a lot of freedom and place for experiment. It was there that I started to experiment with the pictorialist processes. The link with photo history was obvious. In order to understand the processes I needed to research the photo history. It was also the beginning of collecting vintage photos, books and ephemera, and of course also vintage astronomical photos.
The passion for collecting was very time consuming and left little space for my own photography. That wasn’t a problem. It was clear for me that the photography legacy was more important than my own photography and so I concentrated on the collection which ended up with the creation of the Anamorfose Photo Gallery in 1995.
In my search for vintage astrophotos I was able to acquire historical telescopes. These are not only beautiful examples of technical engineering but also instruments that still can be used today. These historical telescopes help a lot to do in depth research.
In order to understand the vintage astrophotos better I started to experiment with these antique telescopes. An eye opening experience was when I found a professional telescope from the 1920’s. It belonged to a French astronomer who used astrophotography for comet chasing. I tried to make photos with this instrument. I succeeded.
For me it became clear what the difficulties were in the early days of the astrophotography and how they could be solved.
A part of the history of astrophotography became clear.
The result is that I can better “read” astrophotos. I recognize the efforts and the story behind the image.
Now I travel around to research observatories and archives. Thrilling experiences to discover these legacies.
If you read the historical publications it’s astonishing to see how much impact the early astrophotos had on the society. In fact, astrophotography changed our way of thinking about the world and the universe.
It’s not so important to know who made the first astronomical photograph. It’s much more important to know why since the early days of the birth of photography astronomy was so much involved.
The early beginnings: a politician, an astronomer and an inventor
We all know the story of François Arago (1786 – 1853) and Louis Daguerre in 1839. Arago negotiated a pension for Daguerre and the son of Niepce in exchange for royalty free photography. What is lesser known, is that Arago was also the director of the Paris Observatory.
In the announcement speech in the Chambre des Députés and later in the Académie Arago explained the technique of the Daguerreotype but also talked about the fabulous possibilities of photography in several domains. Of course he had a lot of attention for astronomical applications. Arago’s speech was really visionary.
To understand the importance of Arago’s focus on astronomical photography you must go back to the early 19th century. All astronomical observations were done visually and the only registration of the observations were drawings by scientists behind the eyepiece of sometimes monumental telescopes. Not all astronomers were good artists. Not all the drawings were accurate, which resulted in long discussions between astronomers and sometimes led to false scientific conclusions.
In his speech Arago mentioned three fields of interest for astronomical photography: an accurate map of the moon, what is the true nature of the sun ?(spectroscopy) and, the oldest unanswered question, how many stars are there.
But before the astronomers could start answering these questions there were a lot of technical problems to be solved. The Daguerreotype in France and the Talbotype in the UK weren’t photographical processes able to register faint objects and be used for scientific applications. On the other hand the observatories weren’t equipped for photography. Until that moment the observatories were only equipped for visual use. Astronomical photography has much higher demands. Without entering too much in technical details one could say that the development of photography also demanded a development in the observatories. Photography and science both developed together in an organic way. Sometimes the very same people were both scientist and photographer.
What was the impact of this speech and the importance of Arago? Arago wasn’t only a famous politician but he was also the director of the Observatoire de Paris and in the position to promote photography in astronomy. The answers to the three famous questions by Arago came from several astronomers and photographers from all over the world.
It was a very thrilling period in time: a period of trial and error. Of successes and deceptions. It was all about making photos that were better than the visual observations. In traditional photography we want to show what we see. In scientific photography the image must go beyond the visual observation
The astrophotography in the first decades after Arago’s announcement wasn’t of any scientific value. The Daguerreotype was absolutely unsuited for astronomy. It was only with the invention of the wet collodion by Frederick Scott Archer, which was much more sensitive than the Daguerreotype, that astrophotography could make a big jump. But more was needed than only sensitive emulsions. There was the need for suited astronomical equipment: better optics and more accurate mounts.
Failures and successes of Moon photography
The Moon is the second brightest celestial object. With the current digital cameras and the computer guided telescope mounts it’s a piece of cake to make a lunar photo. Even without any astronomical equipment it is possible to make astonishing images of the Moon. The first photos of the moon were blurry with little detail. In the 1850’s the images became sharper but still there was not much detail on the Moon’s surface.
(see http://www.anamorfose.be/night-photography/moon-photography/lewis-morris-rutherfurd-full-moon-cdv-2 and http://www.anamorfose.be/night-photography/moon-photography/henry-brothers-attr-moon-1876)
The first photos of the Moon were very popular. Especially the ones made by Lewis Morris Rutherfurd. You could find them in a lot of astronomy and scientific books (see http://www.anamorfose.be/night-photography/books-about-the-dark/camille-flammarion-les-terres-du-ciel), lantern slides and even on microscope slides (microdots or microphotographs) (see http://www.anamorfose.be/night-photography/stereo-views-lantern-slides/lewis-morris-rutherfurd-the-moon)
An Englishmen of genius James Nasmyth found a creative solution for detailed photos of the Lunar surface. He was an amateur-astronomer and a gifted artist. He made detailed drawings of the Lunar craters and, based on these drawings, a plaster model of the Moon was made. It was simple to make detailed photos of the Moon. His famous book “The Moon: considered as a Planet, a World and a Satellite” was as a big success. (see http://www.anamorfose.be/night-photography/books-about-the-dark/j-nasmyth-j-carpenter-the-moon-considered-as-a-planet)
In France at the Paris Observatory two scientists and inventors, the Henry Brothers, made a special photographic refractor. This instrument made it possible to make detailed photos of the Moon. (see http://www.anamorfose.be/night-photography/moon-photography/henry-brothers-fr-res-photographiqueune-r-gion-lunaire)
At the same time other observatories succeeded in making detailed photos of the Moon. It was time to plan a real photographic Moon Atlas. At that time it was a huge project. Until today it is difficult to map the complete Moon surface. A lot of projects were incomplete. Again at the Paris Observatory two astronomers: Maurice Loewy and Pierre Henri Puiseux ended this endeavor successfully. The result of 10.000 photos was “L’Atlas Photographique de la Lune” (1910) see http://www.anamorfose.be/index/manufacturers_id/22 . For decades their atlas was the reference in Lunar photography.
The burning Sun
It should be easier to easier to make photos of the Sun. Bright enough and visible during the daytime. No need for sensitive emulsions. No need to get out at night when it is cold (sometimes very very cold).
Never try to look at the Sun with a telescope. You’ll burn your eye. The sun is too bright
With the appropriate filters the bright sunlight can be dimmed so it can be observed and photographed safely.
It’s the same story as with the Lunar photography: how can we make detailed photos of the Sun that go beyond the visual observations?
After a lot of trial and error the photographers and astronomers succeeded in making the first photos of the Sun in the early 1850’s.
The first photos of the Sun showed the full disc with some sun spots (See http://www.anamorfose.be/night-photography/solar-system-and-comets/lewis-morris-rutherfurd-die-sonne)
I can’t help it but we need to go back again to the Paris Observatory in the 1870’s to meet Jules Janssen, an astronomer who invented a system to make very detailed photos of the Sun. (see http://www.anamorfose.be/night-photography/solar-system-and-comets/jules-janssens-etudes-de-la-surface-solaire)
On a daily basis (when it was not cloudy or raining) he made photos of the Sun which resulted in the magnum opus of 6.000 photos called “L’Atlas de Photographies Solaires”. It was a very limited edition. The high quality of his photos was only surpassed in the 1950’s.
Dim, dim and dimmer.
The last quest was photographing the stars. Try it for yourself. Point your camera to the dark sky (if you find one). You will quickly notice that you need a very long exposure time. Let’s say at least 30 seconds. The stars in your photos won’t be pinpoints any longer but star trails. I don’t know if you have noticed but the Earth turns around its axis and we have the impression the stars are evolving around us. They don’t stand still. Star trails can very aesthetic but they aren’t what the astronomers wanted as a result. They didn’t need another proof of the Copernican cosmology since Galileo Galilei ( see http://www.anamorfose.be/night-photography/books-about-the-dark/suttermann-galileao-galilei-reproduction-of-a-portrait-of)
So we need two things to make a decent photo of the stars: fast emulsions and a system to block the movement of the stars. The first was again wet collodion and the second is called an Equatorial mount with a guiding system. The equatorial mount already existed and was invented by the German astronomer Fraunhofer.
These equatorial mounts had a clock drive precise enough for visual observations but not precise enough for photography. The photographer needed to correct the errors in the drive manually. Which means that they had to look through an auxiliary telescope during the whole time of the exposure, which could be a couple of hours. So no time for a coffee or the bathroom.
Now we’re talking about the real astrophotography. One of the most challenging kinds of photography. In the 19th century astronomy was the king of sciences. Perhaps astrophotography is the king of … .
Don’t dare to finish my sentence 😉
A couple of names of pioneers to remember: the already mentioned Henry Brothers (see http://www.anamorfose.be/night-photography/deep-sky-objects/paul-and-prosper-henry-amas-de-persei), Dr. Max Wolf (see http://www.anamorfose.be/night-photography/books-about-the-dark/dr-max-wolf-stereoskopbilder-vom-sternhimmel-1-serie-7-aufl-p-4401) and Edward Emerson Barnard (http://www.anamorfose.be/night-photography/deep-sky-objects/e-e-barnard-nubela-in-ophiuchus)
Every single one of these astronomers solved the problem of the emulsions and the guiding of the stars.
The first photos of the stars consisted only of a black background with a couple of tiny white points. Later they managed to photograph nebula and finally the Milky Way.
It was time to think seriously about a map of the whole sky.
The American observatory of Harvard College was one of the first astrophotographic observatories. John Adams Whipple was one of the pioneers of Lunar photography and later Edward Charles Pickering started with one of the major projects of photographically mapping the Northern and Southern hemisphere. (see http://www.anamorfose.be/collector-s-room/harvard-college-observatory-omega-centauri-photograph-taken-b)
After the French – Prussian war and the Paris revolt Admiral Mouchez inherited the ruins of the Paris Observatory. In the tradition of the Lunar and Solar atlas he wanted to make an atlas of the stars. the Henry Brothers made a special photographic telescope to do so. The Admiral quickly realized that it wouldn’t be possible to achieve this goal with only one telescope. He called up other observatories worldwide to join him in this project. He ended up with about 20 observatories worldwide who wanted to help with the project. They were all equipped with the same telescopes made by the Henry Brothers. Every observatory had to photograph one part of the sky. The project started in 1885 and was called “Carte Photographique du Ciel”.
On each photo the stars needed to be counted and the position needed to be determined. This computing was a delicate job mostly done by ladies.
It took until the 1970’s and the International Astronomical Union decided that the project was a failure. It was the biggest scientific failure of the 19th and 20th century. Imagine 4 generations of astronomers in 20 observatories doing almost nothing else than meticulously photographing each part of the sky and afterwards counting the stars?
The United States was one of the only countries who didn’t participate in this project. The result is that astronomy in the States has a different history than in Europe. The American observatories had more attention for astrophysics and their astrophotography was different. Two American Observatories have an important astrophotographic legacy: Mount Wilson Observatory (http://www.anamorfose.be/night-photography/observatories/mount-wilson-observatory-100-inch-reflector-mt-wilson) and The Lick Observatory (http://www.anamorfose.be/night-photography/observatories/lick-observatory-eyz-end-of-the-36-inch-refractor) .
That’s another story…
