University of London Observatory
Archive of Wilson Plates

Early astrophotography

The images below are a selection of plates that were taken around the turn of the century using the Wilson 24-inch reflector at its original home in Ireland, before it was moved to ULO in 1929, where it was used until its retirement in 1975. The images were scanned from prints made from the original glass plates. Smudges and other defects appear in some of the images; these are due to deterioration of the original glass plates.