Moveable Astronomical Lantern Slides

Description

From the 1600s through the early 1900s, glass slides—some with wooden frames and mechanical parts as seen here—were used to display astronomical images. The slides were positioned in a lantern slide projector, which projected enlarged versions of the images on a screen in front of the guests gathered for astronomy lessons.

Object Information

Date Created:

ca. 1867

Local ID:

FI Catalog # 6015

Collection:

Astronomy

Count:

2

Citation:

Moveable Astronomical Lantern Slides (FI Catalog # 6015) from the collections of The Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, PA. USA

Creator(s):

Henry Whitall

Materials:

wood, metal, glass, pigment

Classification:

T&E for Science & Technology, Astronomical T&E

Rights:

Fair Use for educational purposes

Appears In

Resource Kit
The Franklin Institute

Treading Among the Stars: How We’ve Found Our Way

Long before there were advanced technologies available for studying the sky, people devised ways of depicting the sun, moon, planets, and stars in relation to the Earth to figure out how our planet fit into the vast universe. Our method of exploring the night sky has grown to now include actual trips into space, even visiting another celestial body in person. But before technology made direct exploration possible, we had to use remote methods to map the expanse we could see from Earth.

Created by: The Franklin Institute

Grade 3-8