Photographs of Stars, Star-Clusters and Nebulae
Together with Information Concerning the Instruments and the Methods Employed in the Pursuit of Celestial Photography

Published between 1893 and 1899, this two-volume work illustrates the research of a pioneer of modern astronomy.

Isaac Roberts (Author)

9781108015226, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 31 October 2010

168 pages, 53 b/w illus.
29.7 x 21 x 0.9 cm, 0.42 kg

A geologist and fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, Isaac Roberts (1829–1904) made significant contributions to the photography of star-clusters and nebulae. By championing reflecting rather than refracting telescopes, Roberts was able to perceive previously unnoticed star-clusters, and was the first to identify the spiral shape of the Great Andromeda Nebula. Roberts' use of a telescope for photographing stars, and a long exposure time, provided greater definition of stellar phenomena than previously used hand-drawings. Although Roberts' conclusions about the nature of the nebulae he photographed were not always correct, the book is significant for the possibilities it suggests for nebular photography. Published in London in 1893 and 1899, the two-volume Photographs of Stars represents the summation of his work with his assistant W. S. Franks at his observatory in Crowborough, Sussex. Volume 1 contains 51 collotype plates of stars, and descriptions of his instruments and methods.

Preface
Isaac Roberts' observatory, Crowborough Hill
Isaac Roberts' telescopes
List of the plates
List of the abbreviations
1. The negatives
2. Arrangement of the photographs
3. Epoch of the Fiducial stars (A.D. 1900)
4. A table for converting measurements in right ascensions into intervals of time
5. Illustrations of the method for determining the right ascensions and declinations of the stars
6. Introduction
Utility of the photographic charts
7. Refractors and reflectors as photo-instruments
8. Requirements and adjustments of a reflector for celestial photography
9. Collimation of the mirror
10. Essentials of a photo-telescope
11. Method for testing the stability of a photo-instrument
12. Photographic plates: their exposures and development
13. Description of the photographs and references concerning them
14. Deductions from the photographs.

Subject Areas: Cosmology & the universe [PGK]