Founded in 1667, the Paris Observatory is the oldest observatory in the world which is still active. Its own exceptional collection bears witness to the never ending questioning of astronomers about the Earth’s companion body.
Accompanying the celebrations of Man’s first step on the Moon, the Paris Observatory library invites you to (re)discover a conquest begun 300years earlier.
Via a virtual exhibition, you will discover the major selenographic steps of the XVIIth to the XIXth centuries.
The exhibition is articulated around a certain number of items:
It begins by recalling the challenges of lunar mapping and the technical progress achieved between the XVIIth and the XIXth centuriesin the design of refractor and reflector telescopes.
Then, via a chronological sequence, the exhibition presents a panorama of lunar maps, starting with those of William Gilbert, and ending with the photographic Atlas project of Loewy and Puiseux.
Finally, the exhibition returns to the question of lunar nomenclature, be it in the context of naming the lunar structures, or the illustrious personalities who lent their names for this purpose.
Last update on 21 December 2021