On March 23, 1840, a New Yorker named John William Draper became the first person to take a photo of the moon.
Draper was a doctor, scientist and photographer who studied photochemistry to come up with better ways to take pictures. Before Draper photographed the moon, another photographer Louis Daguerre had tried to do the same, but his image came out fuzzy.
How to observe the moon (infographic)
- 9 Amazing Photos of the ‘Supermoon’
- NASA’s 17 Apollo Moon Missions in Pictures
- Moon Master: An Easy Quiz for Lunatics
Capturing the moon in a so-called daguerreotype image involved long exposures, and Daguerre had some technical difficulties while tracking the moon’s movement with his telescope.
Draper’s first successful photo also took several tries. He took a 20-minute exposure with a 5-inch telescope to create a daguerreotype of the moon, and he publicly announced his results on March 23.
On This Day in Space Archive!
Still not enough space? Don’t forget to check out our Space Image of the Day, and on the weekends our Best Space Photos and Top Space News Stories of the week.
Follow us @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
