Nasmyth and Carpenter deemed careful study of the moon’s surface during its various phases, aided by repeated and revised drawings based on telescopic observations, to be the best method of \"rendering correct representations of the objects in view.\" They translated their drawings into tabletop models, which were photographed under sunlight to \"faithfully reproduce\" the effects of light and shadow cast on the lunar surface.
","remarks":"Encounters\r\n"},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Gallery Label","textentryhtml":"In nineteenth-century Britain, the newly established field of astronomy benefited from a growing number of hobbyists who helped gather observational data. As amateur astronomers themselves, Nasmyth and Carpenter formulated ideas about how the moon’s topography formed, and in 1874 they published The Moon: Considered as a Planet, a World, and a Satellite, one of the first books illustrated by photomechanical prints. Unlike earlier images of the earth’s satellite, Nasmyth and Carpenter’s moonscapes were created with small plaster models that measured about twenty inches in diameter. Despite this fiction, the publication was warmly received by scientists for its high-fidelity images of the lunar models and its accessibility to the public.","remarks":"HOP rotation June 2019"}],"datebegin":1874,"sortnumber":"2009 72","published_date":"2026-03-05 09:29:40.589270","objectid":56365,"dimensions":"17.2 × 14 cm (6 3/4 × 5 1/2 in.)\r\nmat: 35.6 x 27.9 cm. (14 x 11 in.)","on_view":false}