Vega becomes first star other than the Sun to be photographed

Background. Astrophotography began in 1840, when John William Draper took an image of the Moon using the daguerreotype process. At Harvard, William Cranch Bond was appointed "Astronomical Observer to the University" in 1839, marking the founding of the Harvard College Observatory. Between 1847 and 1852, Bond and pioneer photographer John Adams Whipple used the Great Refractor telescope to produce remarkably clear images of the Moon; those lunar images took the prize for technical excellence in photography at the 1851 Great Exhibition in London.

The Observation. On the night of July 16–17, 1850, John Adams Whipple and William Bond successfully created the first daguerreotype of a star, Vega. This achievement occurred at the Harvard College Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The event established Vega as the first star other than the Sun to have its image photographed, a distinct milestone from earlier lunar photography.

Significance. Passage sources record Vega as the first star other than the Sun to have its image and spectrum photographed. The 1850 daguerreotype therefore stands as an early landmark of astrophotography alongside the lunar work for which Bond and Whipple received the 1851 Great Exhibition prize for technical excellence in photography.