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[-=CROMAN=-]

aside from the watermark this is a cool photo. looks like it was taken with a 200" scope. Who had a 200" scope in the 1930's? The Hale??

[RobbW]

What I want to know is how they were able to track so well for astrophotography back in the 1930s. That's a darn good astropic. Better than what I can usually do with my GoTo scope.

[magic612]

How do you know it was taken in the 1930's? Just curious.

I think Palomar was the first 200 inch scope, and it went into operation in 1949, IIRC.

[erikruud]

Nov 9, 2011 11:14:41 GMT -6 RobbW said:

What I want to know is how they were able to track so well for astrophotography back in the 1930s. That's a darn good astropic. Better than what I can usually do with my GoTo scope.

Most likely it would have been a clockwork mechanism.

[-=CROMAN=-]

Magic... thats what the ebay listing has it as

www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-1930S-SPACE-PHOTO-RING-NEBULA-LYRA-ASTRONOMY-TELESCOPE-PHOTO-/260889085517?pt=Art_Photo_Images&hash=item3cbe33864d


Then I also found this article on electron densities in two planetary nebula. Click on plate 10 to see the striking similarities.

articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/1960ApJ...131..537M/0000537.000.html


Perhaps the ebay seller is fibbing a bit? perhaps not... You are right about the hale though, first light in 1949.

I sent the seller a message asking about how they proved the date.

[magic612]

Hmmm.... it just says, "200 inch photo" even in the listing. So it's not certain it was taken with a 200 inch aperture scope. Could have been a 200" focal length, perhaps? Also, the listing title says, "1930's" (which is really vague to begin with) and then down in the "Item specifics" it says, "Pre-1950's."

That's a little fishy to me.

[patrickm]

The 36" Crossley Reflector at Lick took a great one in 1899. Dunno about this one having to be from a 200" to be that good.

Here 'tis from www.gutenberg.org/files/36470/36470-h/36470-h.htm
(Plate 59)

Attachments:

[jeremy]

My first reaction to these photos were "these photos are awesome, why can't I get anything even close, and these were taken ages ago!". Then it also hit me, I would bet with an investment of $5k or probably less (scope, camera, etc...), one today could take a picture like that. However back then there was probably what would be millions of dollars today in equipment to do this, and only a few people in the world had access to that equipment. I suppose times have changed! Now to get that photo....

[Paulie pchris00]

Nov 9, 2011 11:14:41 GMT -6 RobbW said:

What I want to know is how they were able to track so well for astrophotography back in the 1930s. That's a darn good astropic. Better than what I can usually do with my GoTo scope.

I know the 100" at Mt Wilson, Hubble and others rode in at cage, guiding the telescope. I assume that for smaller telescopes at other observatories, the astronomer on duty had to somehow manually guide the scope. Not sure how.

[Paulie pchris00]

Nov 9, 2011 22:31:09 GMT -6 jeremy said:

My first reaction to these photos were "these photos are awesome, why can't I get anything even close, and these were taken ages ago!". Then it also hit me, I would bet with an investment of $5k or probably less (scope, camera, etc...), one today could take a picture like that. However back then there was probably what would be millions of dollars today in equipment to do this, and only a few people in the world had access to that equipment. I suppose times have changed! Now to get that photo....

This is a good time to start AP. It's not expensive to get into AP from scratch and get images that are better than the pros could get a few decades ago, with digital data that is easy to process and manipulate.

Think about this. The best planetary imagers today are "amateurs" using telescopes of 16" aperture or less. Unlike the biggest telescopes of a century ago, the truly big ground based telescopes of today are only used for planetary work to follow up discoveries made by amateurs. Remember the storm discovered about a year ago on Saturn? Anthony Wesley discovered the storm, scooping even Cassini in Saturnian orbit. Astrophotographers today truly have few limits on what they can accomplish.

[-=CROMAN=-]

The reply from Ebay seller

Hi. I am not an expert on this subject. The photograph to melooked like it was 1920s or 30s , not a 1949 image . The
photo paper looks like the 1930s at the latest but there is
no date on this photo so I do not know the exact date but it
very old .. i think i described everything that is written
on the image.

sincerely
suzanne



Caveat Emptor!