PHOTOGRAPHY OF THE SKIES 

 GEORGE ILES 



[From "Flame, Electricity and the Camera," copyright 

 by Doubleday, Page & Co., New York.fl 



DR. JOHN W. DRAPER, of New York, who was 

 the first to portray the human face in the camera, 

 was also the first to photograph a heavenly body. 

 In March, 1840, he succeeded in taking pictures 

 of the moon, which were fairly good, considering 

 the imperfection of his instruments. Five years 

 later Professor G. P. Bond, at Harvard Obser- 

 vatory, obtained clear portraits of the moon with 

 a fifteen-inch refractor, and in so doing launched 

 his observatory on a career of astronomical 

 photography which to-day gives it the lead in all 

 the world. From 1865 to 1875 Mr. Lewis M. 

 Rutherfurd, of New York, took photographs of 

 the moon which for twenty years were un- 

 rivalled. At present the moon is the best photo- 

 graphed of all celestial objects, and yet Professor 

 Barnard says that the best pictures thus ob- 

 tained come short of what can be seen with a 

 good telescope of very moderate size. Thus 

 far minute details of the surface are beyond the 

 reach of photography, but its accurate delinea- 

 tion of the less difficult features is of the highest 

 value. 



"The photography of the surface features of 

 77 



