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All items in the Cosmos and Culture Exhibition

  • Thomas Harriot’s sunspot drawings — 1610 (8 December)

    The top drawing on this page records Thomas Harriot’s first view of sunspots. He was one of several astronomers to independently discover them around the same time. Harriot risked blindness by using his telescope to view the Sun directly with ... read more

  • Telescope by Galileo (replica) — Original c. 1610

    This is a replica of one of only two surviving telescopes made by Galileo. He made his first telescope after hearing descriptions of a new device that had begun circulating around Europe in late 1608. He refined the design into ... read more

  • Sidereus nuncius — 1610

    In this book Galileo reported the astronomical capabilities of his new spyglass. His drawings of the pitted lunar surface and Jupiter’s moons provided evidence to support theories of a Sun-centred Solar System. Sidereus nuncius could also be considered Galileo’s job ... read more

  • Isaac Newton’s reflecting telescope (replica) — Original 1668-71

    This is a replica of the first successful reflecting telescope, built by Isaac Newton. It used mirrors instead of lenses to focus light, giving a better performance for a smaller instrument. The circular mark near the front of the telescope ... read more

  • Representation of E-ELT mirror segment — 2009

    The world’s largest optical telescope, the European Extremely Large Telescope, is due to begin operations in 2018. It will consist of 984 hexagonal segments of this size, fitted together to make a mirror 42 metres across – around the length ... read more

  • Stjerneborg Observatory — 1634

    Nobleman Tycho Brahe was one of the foremost astronomers of the pre-telescopic age. His underground observatory on the Danish island of Hvaena was shielded from the wind, allowing him and his assistants to measure the stars accurately using a variety ... read more

  • Islamic astrolabe (shown in parts) — 901-1100

    Knowing the time for prayer and locating the direction of the holy city of Mecca is a key part of Islam. Medieval Islamic scholars developed the original Ancient Greek design for an astrolabe to create a highly sophisticated instrument. Many ... read more

  • European astrolabe — 1607-18

    The astrolabe was the main astronomical instrument before the telescope. It could be used to tell the time, determine star positions at particular latitudes and predict future astronomical events. Each curly pointer corresponds to a bright star. On this astrolabe ... read more

  • Norman Lockyer’s seven-prism spectroscope — 1868

    This seven-prism spectroscope was designed to bend light into its different colours, allowing Norman Lockyer to identify different elements in stars. When observing the Sun he noticed the signature of a mystery element unknown on Earth. He named it ‘helium’ ... read more

  • Long-wavelength spectrometer from the Infrared Space Observatory (identical spare model) — 1990s

    Cosmic dust between the stars blocks out visible light, but it can be penetrated by infrared. Scientists study the infrared radiation emitted by gas molecules to find out more about cooler areas of space where stars have yet to form, ... read more

  • Tenmon Bun’ya no zu (map showing divisions of the heavens and regions they govern) — 1677

    This star map was made by Harumi Shibukawa, official astronomer to the Japanese Edo court. He was one of the first people to use a telescope in Japan after the instrument was introduced by European traders. The map combines Shibukawa’s ... read more

  • Glass positive of Hubble’s classification of ‘nebulae’ — 1930

    The famous astronomer Edwin Hubble showed that ‘spiral nebulae’ were actually galaxies of stars beyond our own galaxy, the Milky Way. He devised a system of galaxy classification that is still widely used today. These galaxy images were taken at ... read more

  • Scale model (1:6) of the Hipparcos (High Precision Parallax Collecting Satellite) astrometry spacecraft — c. 1985

    Hipparcos was the first space mission designed to map stars. It measured the positions, distances and motion of over 2½ million stars to new degrees of precision. The satellite’s name acknowledges the Greek astronomer Hipparchus, who systematically mapped over a ... read more

  • Aluminium spectroscopic plate from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) — c. 2000

    The Sloan Digital Sky Survey is the largest astronomical survey ever completed. Between 2000 and 2008 it created a 3D map of over a million stars and galaxies, covering a quarter of the night sky. This plate is one of ... read more

  • Parts from the Cambridge Interplanetary Scintillation Array — 1967

    This is part of the four-acre radio telescope used in one of astronomy’s most famous chance discoveries. In 1967, student Jocelyn Bell noticed a ‘bit of scruff’ on the telescope’s data charts. Astronomers realised that the unusual signal, which repeated ... read more

  • Model of a pulsar — c. 1969

    Antony Hewish used this model to teach people about pulsars – the new kind of star he and Jocelyn Bell discovered in 1967. The orange ball at the centre represents a neutron star, the incredibly dense remnant of a supernova ... read more

  • Kew Photoheliograph — 1857

    This is the first instrument that was purpose built for astronomical photography. It was used at Kew and Greenwich to take daily photographs of the Sun. Warren de la Rue took this instrument to Rivabellosa in Spain to photograph the ... read more

  • Photographs of sunspots taken with the Kew Photoheliograph — September 1870

    These photographs are from a series taken in September 1870 with the Kew Photoheliograph, the large instrument at the very right of this showcase. Astronomers used it to take daily photographs of the Sun. Comparing the photographs day by day ... read more

  • Diapositives of photographs taken with the Kew Photoheliograph — 1860-62

    These photographs of the Sun and Moon were taken with the Kew Photoheliograph, the large instrument in the corner of this showcase. The Moon image, on the right, was taken at Kew Observatory. The Sun image, on the left, was ... read more

  • William Herschel’s ‘infrared’ prism — 1795-1805

    This may be the prism used by William Herschel when he accidentally discovered invisible radiation in 1800. Using the prism, he split sunlight into its different colours and measured their temperatures. He noticed that the temperature was highest beyond the ... read more