Photographische Sternkarten [Photographic Atlas of the Stars] Celestial photographs
Collection
Identifier: MS498
A group of 14 celestial photographs from the Photographische Sternkarten [Photographic Atlas of the Stars]. The photographs were created by Johann Palisa and Max Wolf and published in 1901.
This collection is open.
These photographs are in the public domain.
.2 Linear Feet (14 photographs in one oversize folder)
A group of 14 celestial photographs from the Photographische Sternkarten [Photographic Atlas of the Stars] edited by Johann Palisa and Max Wolf.
Silver prints, the images measuring 11x8 5/8 inches (27.9x21.9 cm.), the sheets 14 1/8x10 inches (35.9x25.4 cm.), each with the photographers' credits, longitudinal and latitudinal lines, technical data, and the publisher's credit printed on recto.
While photographs were used to chart the stars as early as the late 19th century, this is possibly the earliest published star atlas containing original photographs.
The complete early series of the photographic star atlas Photographische Sternkarten consists of 201 leaves in 10 portfolios. The images were gathered from observatories around the world and reproduced in uniform format. The photos, taken by astronomers Johann Palisa and Max Wolf, observed a small quadrant of the night sky and the ways in which it changed over the course of several years in the first decade of the twentieth century. The photos were taken in negative and reveal striking phenomena occurring in the universe around us.
Johann Palisa was an Austrian astronomer who discovered 122 asteroids between 1874 and 1923, all without the aid of photography. The asteroid 914 Palisana and the lunar crater Palisa are named in his honor.
Max Wolf was a German astronomer and pioneer in the field of astrophotography. His first astronomical discovery was a comet named 14P/Wolf in 1884 at the age of 21. During a trip to America in 1893, he learned about the emerging field of astrophotography and met with E.E. Barnard, who became a lifelong collaborator and friend.
The photographs are arranged in numerical order by plate number.
Materials are stored onsite.
Purchased from Swann Auction Galleries Fine Photographs Sale #2627 Lot #31 on February 23, 2023. Previously from the Estate of Richard T. Rosenthal, Philadelphia.
Photographs processed by Alison Reynolds in 2025.
Part of the Archives and Special Collections, Library, Georgia Institute of Technology Repository