Credit: ©The Royal Society
    Image number: RS.21222

    Comet projection

    Date
    1806
    Creator
    Wilson Lowry (1762 - 1824, British) , Engraver
    Object type
    Library reference
    9183
    Material
    Dimensions
    height (print): 128mm
    width (print): 210mm
    Subject
    Physics
       > Optics
    Description
    View of a ‘comet’ effect produced by a cometarium, an optical instrument utilising a convex lens and candle to project a mock-comet.

    The accompanying note describes: ‘place a lighted candle before the cometarium, at the distance of 18 feet, and the light which passes through the great lens forms a beautiful representation of the tail of a comet upon the wall.’.

    Plate 3, illustrating the paper: ‘Description of a Cometarium invented by Ez. Walker, Esq.’. The Philosophical Magazine…[edited] by Alexander Tilloch, v.24, (1806) pp.37-39.

    Inscribed above: ‘MR. WALKER’S PLANETARIUM. Philo. Mag. Pl. III. Vol XXIV.’. Inscribed below: ‘Lowry sculp.’.

    Wilson Lowry (1762-1824), British engraver and geologist, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1812.
    Associated place
    <The World>
       > Europe
          > United Kingdom
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