David ALBERTO 1 / 3
"Planisphère mobile" par Mlle Ginot d'Esroys (1847). A sky chart. Credit: Gallica/BNF. 🔭 #historyofastronomy
History of Astronomy
by @emily.space
A feed about the history of astronomy and astrophysics! Part of the Astronomy feeds network. Astronomers can sign up to post here via @bot.astronomy.blue Contains posts from signed up users with #astrohistory or #historyofastronomy. Posts here are also included in the main Astronomy feed.
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David ALBERTO David ALBERTO 1 / 2
🔭 🧪 #EduSky #astrohistory Don't mind me, I'm just dreaming I was one of Delure's wealthy clients in Paris, commissioning this lovely double #sundial in the early 18th c... 1/5🧵
processingthesky What was the Horsehead called before it was a horse? Short excerpt from Episode 2 of Processing the Sky. Full episode: youtu.be/lK27Uhc7-Mw #astrophotography #astronomy #astrohistory #space #science #deepsky
Keith Smith Florence is rightly famous for its art galleries, but I was also impressed by the city’s science museums. 🔭🧪⚛️ This enormous armillary sphere is in the Museo Galileo; it shows the Ptolemaic model of the Solar System. Built by Antonio Santucci in 1593, for Ferdinand I de' Medici. #astrohistory
David ALBERTO Explaining the hour lines of the horizontal and the vertical #sundial (on the right) by comparing to the circles of the armillary sphere (drawn on the left). By James Ferguson in 'Lectures on select subjects' (1775), chapter 'Dialling'. 🔭 #histsci #astrohistory
Alastair Williams The great comet of 1882 was extraordinarily bright, so much so that it could be seen even in the middle of the day as it approached the Sun. Here it was photographed from Cape Town by David Gill. #historyofastronomy #space #comets #photography
Alastair Williams The Orion Nebula, photographed by George Ritchey in 1901. #historyofastronomy #space #photography #history
Alastair Williams The lunar plain of Mare Humorum sketched by Etienne Trouvelot in 1875. To the bottom right is the crater Gassendi, on the top left the craters of Vitello and Doppelmayer. #historyofastronomy #space #artemis #art #science
Alastair Williams The Orion Nebula, photographed in 1883 by Andrew Ainslie Common. This image was the first to reveal stars too faint to be seen by the human eye. #historyofastronomy #space #photography #history
Alastair Williams The Earth, seen by the crew of Apollo 17. Since that flight no human has gone high or far enough to see the entirety of the Earth silhouetted against the void. #space #historyofastronomy #NASA #artemis #apollo #photography
David ALBERTO 1 / 2
🔭 🧪 #astrohistory James Ferguson's 'Luminarium', a very rare card #volvelle (~1760). For any date, the volvelle provides the duration of the semi-diurnal arc, or half-length of the day, from which you can find the sunrise/sunset times (for London) by adding or substracting from noon. 1/3
David ALBERTO #maps #carto 🔭 #astrohistory Exposition : "La figure de la Terre. Un débat scientifique franco-anglais (XVIIᵉ-XXIᵉ siècle)", par l'Académie des Sciences et la Royal Society. À la bibliothèque Mazarine (Paris), 1-20 juin 2026. www.academie-sciences.fr/exposition-l...
David ALBERTO Here's Benjamin Donn's 'Improved Analemma' (1770, Bristol). Can be used at any latitude to find the sunrise/sunset times, elevation, solar time, as well as the rising, setting & southing of stars. 🔭 🧪 #EduSky #astrohistory 1/3
David ALBERTO 🔭 #astrohistory Paper star chart by Claes Jansz Vooght (The Nederlands, ~1680). The chart shows the stars visible from 52° latitude . The carved yellow volvelle rotates in order to indicate the part of the sky visible at a particular moment. Oval: local horizon, with bearings (North, N east...).
David ALBERTO 🔭 #astrohistory The 'New Astronomical Instrument', by 🏴 James Ferguson (~1750). A paper model. #volvelle A star chart is visible through the oval opening which represents the horizon for the latitude of London. 1/
David ALBERTO 1 / 2
A diptych #sundial, shaped as a mandolin. Nurenberg, 1st half of 17th century. 7.5cm long. The magnetic compass has been very useful for portable sundials, especially in mid-17thc. in Europe when the magnetic and geographic poles were in the same direction. 🔭 #astrohistory
David ALBERTO 1 / 2
The 'Astronomical Rotula', a paper tool for predicting the dates of eclipses for the next decades. Made of 5 rotating discs. Invented 1739 by 🏴 James Ferguson, who would become famous for his lectures, models and popular books in astronomy, mechanics and electricity. 🔭 #astrohistory #EduSky 1/☀️
David ALBERTO Back from "Ciels d'Encre", an exhibition of ancient astronomy books at the bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, Paris. A display of so many famous titles & authors in the #historyofastronomy... (please forgive the poor quality of my pictures). 🔭 1/...
David ALBERTO 1 / 2
My digital version of this astronomical tool is now available for printing (5 pages, preferably card stock). If you can read french, or if you can have it translated, there's also a user guide. This 1778 tool was designed to find longitude with stars and a watch. 🔭 #astrohistory shorturl.at/bvgYd