1800s Astronomical Drawings vs. NASA Images by Lauren WeissAugust 19, 2016

It’s no secret that the New York Public Library’s Digital Collections hold many, many treasures—over 690,000, to be more specific. Of all the gorgeous, funny, odd, and impressive items I’ve stumbled upon, the E. L. Trouvelot astronomical pastel drawings sit in my top ten. Trouvelot was a French immigrant to the US in the 1800s, and his job was to create sketches of astronomical observations at Harvard College’s observatory. Building off of this sketch work, Trouvelot decided to do large pastel drawings of "the celestial phenomena as they appear...through the great modern telescopes." What amazes me about these drawings is how detailed they seem to be—but I am no astronomer. I decided to investigate a bit further and pair them with NASA’s photographs, which were taken about 150 years after Trouvelot’s work to see just how precise his art really was.

For all images, click the image title to see a larger version!

With NASA’s Mars Expedition Rovers, we have more detailed images of Mars than ever before. Still, you can see how Trouvelot included similar shading, and the spots in his drawing resemble those around the left edge of NASA’s photo.

Jupiter

Check out that Great Red Spot and the bands on Jupiter’s surface! NASA’s Juno recently reached Jupiter and sent back a less clear image, as well, but we can look forward to much more detail soon as Juno circles Jupiter 37 times at varying altitudes to photograph its surface.

First in-orbit view from Juno:

Partial Eclipse of the Moon

No telescope required for this one. Anyone who has stepped outside to check out a Lunar Eclipse can verify the accuracy—it even shows the very slight illumination of the moon’s eclipsed surface.

Nebula in Orion

The enhanced spectrum of NASA’s photo wasn’t available in Trouvelot’s time, but you can spot the same curvature of the nebula (though it’s the reverse of the NASA image) and the denser center.

Hercules Star Cluster

One of the brightest star clusters in the northern sky, this one is visible with the naked eye on a clear night in the countryside.

Milky Way

There’s nothing quite like looking up at the Milky Way on a clear night to make you feel incredibly small. In Trouvelot’s drawing you can spot a bit of sea and a ship at the bottom—perhaps he was contemplating his own insignificance by the sea when he did this study. I’d like to think the astronaut who took the photo from the International Space Station had a similar feeling.

Saturn

Different angles, but the NASA photo from the Cassini mission almost feels like a drawing and vice versa.

Total Eclipse of the Sun

Try not to sing “Total Eclipse of the Heart”. I personally enjoy Trouvelot’s added artistic flair (or flare, if you want to be punny) on this one.

Aurora Borealis

The shot from the International Space Station has slightly less curvature than Trouvelot’s drawing, but it’s a similarly spectacular view of this phenomenon.

Sun Spots

Our ability to get detailed imagery of the Sun has dramatically improved, but zoom in on NASA’s image and you’ll see Trouvelot actually created a spectacular representation of sun spots.

Learn more about E. L. Trouvelot, his silkworm error, and the drawings.

See all of his drawings possessed by NYPL.