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173 Years Since the First Celestial Photograph

In the winter of 1839 John William Draper became the first person in the U.S. to successfully capture a photograph of the moon. Draper utilized a method called daguerreotype, which exposed a silver-covered copper plate to the moon through a 5-inch telescope for 20 minutes. The resulting photograph was only one inch in diameter!

Astrophotography has come a long way in 173 years, and many can capture crisp, clear, and beautiful photographs of the moon and its fascinating impact craters by using just an inexpensive refractor telescope and their mobile phones, also known as #astroiphonography.