Hackaday

Isaac Roberts, a Welsh engineer, captured remarkable photographs of the Andromeda galaxy in 1888 using a 510mm reflecting telescope he built himself. His long-exposure images revealed the galaxy's spiral structure for the first time, achieved through innovative techniques like mounting photographic plates at prime focus and developing tracking systems to follow celestial objects. Despite using equipment from over a century ago, his work remains admirable and demonstrates that impressive astrophotography is possible with modest setups, especially when combined with modern post-processing techniques.

What Isaac Roberts Saw Without A Space Telescope