One of the most ambitious photographic projects the world has ever seen was announced at the 1887 International Astronomical Conference. Known as the Carte du Ciel' or 'Mapping the Stars' project, its grand aim was to record on photographic plates the stars in the night sky. Worked on by eighteen observatories around the world, it was estimated that it would require 22,154 photographic plates. Although little known today, this project cemented the role of photography as a tool for astronomers and was in particular a major accomplishment for the Sydney Observatory, where it was worked on for over seventy years. © 2009 Taylor & Francis.
CITATION STYLE
Barker, G. (2009, November). “Carte du Ciel”: Sydney observatory’s role in the international project to photograph the heavens. History of Photography. https://doi.org/10.1080/03087290903283585
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