Lorenzo Respighi (1824-1889) was the director of the University Observatory at the Campidoglio at Rome. Starting in October of 1869 he observed daily the entire limb of the sun recording prominences and other phenomena.…

Prominences represented in their natural colors, as seen through a large telescope when the slit of the spectroscope was open wide and directed on to the red C-line. These prominences are characteristic of the a…

Prominences represented in their natural colors, as seen through a large telescope when the slit of the spectroscope was open wide and directed on to the red C-line. These prominences are characteristic of the an…

From a photograph taken of a solar eclipse observed from Syracuse, Sicily on 22 December 1870.
From text: "The photograph taken by Mr. Brothers is very valuable, since it shows the halo extending towards the…

This plate contains two prints from photographs of a solar eclipse viewed in Burlington, Iowa on August 7, 1869.
"The photographic plates, which were exposed for the brief space of from five to sixteen seconds, give…

An illustration of a solar eclipse during the last 2 minutes, 25 seconds, therefore just before the reappearance of the sun's rays. The accompanying text states: ""Scarcely had the last ray of sunlight disappeared,"…

Prints from photographs taken by Colonel James Francis Tennant (1829-1915). The upper picture shows the eclipse at the moment of totality, and the lower one immediately before it's cessation. Observed from Guntoor,…

Here Sschellen is illustrating and explaining the phenomenon of sunspots. The accompanying text states: "In Fig. 106 the drawings marked I represent the varying phases through which a spot surrounded by a penumbra…

Fig. 1: Janssen (Pierre Jules César Janssen)
Fig. 2: Brewster (David Brewster)
Fig. 3: V. der Willingen (Volkert Simon Maarten van der Willigen)

Secchi used these three solar spectra to illustrate how the position of…

Fig. 1: Spectrum of "yellow" stars. Secchi included the sun, Pollux, Arcturus, Aldebaran, and Procyon in this second of four classes of stars.

Fig. 2: Spectrum of "white" stars. Secchi included Sirius, Vega, Altair,…

Fig. 1: Spectrum of "red to orange" stars, particularly Alpha Orion and Antares. Secchi included Alpha Herculis, Beta Pegasi, Alpha Orion, and Antares in this third of four classes of stars.

Fig. 2: Spectrum of…