See this fascinating story from ESOCast. For many centuries, maps of the southern sky showed extensive blank areas -- the Terra Incognita of the heavens. The year 1595: For the first time, Dutch traders set sail to the East Indies. At night, navigators Pieter Keyser and Frederik de Houtman measured the positions of more than 130 stars in the southern sky. Soon, celestial globes and maps showed twelve new constellations, none of which had ever been seen before by any European.
The British were the first to construct a permanent astronomical outpost in the southern hemisphere. The Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope was founded in 1820. Not much later, John Herschel built his own private observatory, close to South Africa's famous Table Mountain.
What a view! Dark skies. Bright clusters and star clouds high overhead. Little wonder that Harvard, Yale and Leiden observatories followed suit with their own southern stations. But the exploration of the southern sky still too... more
The British were the first to construct a permanent astronomical outpost in the southern hemisphere. The Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope was founded in 1820. Not much later, John Herschel built his own private observatory, close to South Africa's famous Table Mountain.
What a view! Dark skies. Bright clusters and star clouds high overhead. Little wonder that Harvard, Yale and Leiden observatories followed suit with their own southern stations. But the exploration of the southern sky still too... more
