Next Stop . . . Planet Hershel

A late 18th century guide to astronomy listing the most recent observations.
Included in the list of known planets is a then-recent discovery, a planet named “Hershel” –
what is today known as Uranus. Discovered in 1781 by the German polymath, Sir Frederick William Herschel,
the planet was first known as “The Georgian Star”, for Britain’s King George III.
Due to the King’s lack of popularity in France, that country used the name “Hershel”.

Prévost, de S. A. L’astronomie Mise a La Portée De Tout Le Monde: Contenant Un Traité De La Sphère, Un Traité D’astronomie & Un Traité D’uranographie. A Saint Maixent: Chez François Lainé, Imprimeur, 1792.

The Moon at one Meter

A souvenir from the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris, an attraction that allowed visitors to view the moon through a giant telescope.

The imagery for the attraction may be related to the Georges Méliès 1898 film “La Lune à un mètre” (or “The Astronomer’s Dream”)

There’s a moon in the sky.

It’s called the moon.

ASTRONOMIA [card game] / LONDON / PUBLISHED BY F.G. MOON,

20, THREADNEEDLE STREET / 1829

in the Cary Collection of Playing Cards