EAP1190/1/4

A collection of photographic glass plate negatives (gelatin dry plates) holding images taken from Boyden Observatory, primarily with the ADH Telescope and the 10-inch Metcalf Telescope. A remarkably small number of astrophotographs (images of celestial objects) have survived in the Boyden Collection. About a third of these are test plates: images taken to assess the performance of the telescope, optics, mount, tracking, or a combination of these. Most of the remaining images are of galaxies, bright nebulae, star clusters, regions within the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, and fields within the Milky Way. A particularly interesting plate shows Sputnik 2, about 2 weeks before its orbit decayed. Perhaps foreshadowing current challenges, an image taken in March 1968, for the Marseille Observatory, showed a satellite crossing through the field! Of the 32 plates, 26 are in proper plate envelopes, from which the annotations have been transcribed and captured in this catalogue.

n/a.

Extent: 32 glass plates.

Size and dimensions of original material: Height 25cm, width 20cm, thickness 0.3cm.

Condition of original material: Glass substrate in stable condition, although most plates have small chips along the edges. There is no delamination of the emulsion, but all plates exhibit silver mirroring particularly around the edges.

Custodial history: N/a.

Arrangement: N/a.

Alternative calendar and date: N/a, N/a

Author(s)/Creator(s): English.

Scribe(s): Latin.

Publisher(s): Left-to-Right.

Editor(s): Unrestricted.

Volume number: N/a.

Original institution reference: GN.