Historedia
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First Star Photographed

When
17 July 1850
Where
Harvard College Observatory
Part of
Vega becomes first star other than the Sun to be photographed

William Bond and John Adams Whipple captured the first daguerreotype of a star, Vega, at Harvard College Observatory on July 17, 1850.

Using the Great Refractor, the largest telescope in North America, Bond and Whipple imaged Vega. This event distinguished Vega as the first star other than the Sun to be photographed, following earlier lunar daguerreotypes. The work demonstrated technical excellence in astrophotography.

Sources

  1. Vega Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-30
  2. Harvard College Observatory Wikipedia, revision of 2026-05-29

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.