Credit: © The Royal Society
Image number: RS.8656
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Figure representing stars in the Milky Way
Date
1817
Creator
William Herschel (1738 - 1822, German-British) , Astronomer
Object type
Archive reference number
Material
Dimensions
height (drawing): 230mm
width (drawing): 191mm
width (drawing): 191mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Plate 15 figure 2 from the paper "Astronomical observations and experiments tending to investigate the local arrangement of the celestial bodies in space, and to determine the extent an condition of the Milky Way", by William Herschel, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, vol.107 (1817), pp.302-331. This simple figure of a circle (all naked eye stars) between two parallel lines (the breadth of the Milky Way) is Herschel's demonstration that all visible stars are within the plane and therefore belong to our galaxy. The work is inscribed with publication and plate details and a partially visible pencil note "To be reduced. . " Not signed. Royal Society stamp verso.
Object history
An illustration produced for publication in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.
Associated place