Photographing the Moon: One Man’s Quest to Capture the Lunar Surface

Tucked away on Observatory Hill, a spectacular array of lunar photographs resides in the Harvard College Observatory’s Astronomical Photographic Glass Plate Collection. The collection holds astronomers’ early attempts to photograph the Moon. The earliest photographs capture the lunar surface on glass. The images feel soft and indistinct, and the lunar crescents are elusive, flickering in and out of view as you tilt the reflective surface.