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Lot Essay
Born in northeast Wales in 1829, Roberts was a pioneer in the field of astrophotography. He developed a technique for long-exposure photography, first using large lenses on tracking mountings then later turning to telescopes with self-designed tracking mechanisms, and successfully photographed many star clusters and nebulae.
This photograph, perhaps the most well-known of Roberts' images, depicts the Andromeda Nebula. He was the first person to identify its spiral structure to be the same type of object as the spiral nebulae (known today to be spiral galaxies.) Giving an exposure of four hours to the plate, Roberts considered this photograph as his most notable achievement.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1890, awarded an honorary doctorate in Dublin and in 1895 received a gold medal from the Royal Astronomical Society in London. Many of his photographs were reproduced in his 2-volume book A Selection of Photographic Stars, Star-clusters and Nebulae, published in 1893 and 1899. (Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, Volume III, London: Oxford University, 1920, pp. 209-211).
This photograph, perhaps the most well-known of Roberts' images, depicts the Andromeda Nebula. He was the first person to identify its spiral structure to be the same type of object as the spiral nebulae (known today to be spiral galaxies.) Giving an exposure of four hours to the plate, Roberts considered this photograph as his most notable achievement.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1890, awarded an honorary doctorate in Dublin and in 1895 received a gold medal from the Royal Astronomical Society in London. Many of his photographs were reproduced in his 2-volume book A Selection of Photographic Stars, Star-clusters and Nebulae, published in 1893 and 1899. (Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, Volume III, London: Oxford University, 1920, pp. 209-211).