Stargazing: Past and Present

by Sir Norman Lockyer

In the introductory chapter we referred to the introduction of photographic records of astronomical phenomena as marking an epoch in the development of the science. In the last ones we have to dwell briefly on the modus operandi of the various methods by which the eye is thus being gradually replaced.

The point of celestial photography is that it not only enables us to determine form and place, absolutely irrespective of personal equation so far as the eye is concerned, but that, properly done, it gives us a faithful and lasting record of the operation, so that it is not forgotten; Mr. De La Rue has called the photographic plate the retina which does not forget, and an excellent name it is.

We may pass over altogether the ordinary photographic processes, which have been carried on with a degree of skill and patience which is beyond all praise, and confine our attention exclusively to the instrumental processes. Be it remembered, we have no longer to consider the visual rays, but the so-called chemical rays, which lie at the violet end of the spectrum.

We must also recollect that, in a former chapter, we have seen that the optician’s business was to throw aside the violet rays altogether—to discard them, caring nothing for them, because, so far as the visible form of the objects is concerned, they help very little. But we shall see in a moment that, if we wish to use refractors for photographing, we must abolish this idea, and undo everything we did to get a perfect telescope to see the body, because in the case of the photographic processes employed at present, the visible rays have as little to do with building up the image on the photographic plate as the blue rays have to do with building up the image on the retina of the eye. We shall see presently how admirably this has been done by Mr. Rutherfurd. If, however, we use reflectors instead of refractors, we are able to utilize all the rays by means of the same mirror without alteration, as the focus is the same for all rays, so that a reflector is equally good for all classes of observation.

Let us first consider the cases in which the plate is made to replace the retina with the ordinary telescope. We shall see in the sequel that whether the spectroscope, polariscope, or other physical instrument be added to the telescope—when we pass, that is to say, from mechanical to physical astronomy—the plate can still replace the eye with advantage.

The body of the telescope, with the object-glass or mirror at one end and the plate at its focus in place of the eyepiece, forms the camera, corresponding to those we find in photographic studies. The plate-holder shown in section in the accompanying figure is therefore the only addition required to make a telescope into a camera for ordinary work. Fig. [208].

Fig. 208.—Section of Plate-holder.

A is a screw of such a size that it can be inserted into the eyepiece end of the telescope; the sensitive plate is held between a lid at the back, which opens for the plate to be inserted, and a slide in front, which is drawn out so as to expose the face of the plate to the object. A piece of ground glass of extreme fineness is inserted in the slide, on which the object is focussed before the sensitive plate is put in. It is easy then by the eyepiece focussing-screw to put this nearer or further away from the object-glass, so that the image is thrown sharply on the ground glass. When that is done the ground glass is taken away, and the sensitive plate put there in its place, and then exposed as required, so that the methods are similar to the ordinary photographic process.

We have here an arrangement that enables us to photograph the moon, stars, and planets. M. Faye has proposed that for the transit circle also the photographic method should be applied, the chronograph registering the time of the instantaneous opening of the slide, instead of the time the star is seen to transit, so that the position of the star with respect to the wires is registered at a certain known time; therefore, not only for physical astronomy have we the means of making observations without an observer at all, but also for position observations.