Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
National Geographic Society, Palomar Observatory Sky Survey
(NGS-POSS) Photographs
MS.M.032
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections and Archives, University of California, Irvine
Libraries
Title: National Geographic Society, Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (NGS-POSS)
photographs
Creator:
Palomar Observatory
Identifier/Call Number: MS.M.032
Physical Description:
8 Linear Feet
(10 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1954-1977
Date (bulk): 1954-1960
Abstract: This collection consists of photographs
from the National Geographic Society – Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (NGS-POSS). From 1948
to 1958 astronomers at the California Institute of Technology's Palomar Observatory used a
48-inch Schmidt Telescope to create this sky survey, at the time the most advanced sky
survey ever. The survey detected objects of a magnitude of +22, one million times fainter
than the limits of human vision. The NGS-POSS collection of photographic negative prints was
published multiple times through the 1950s-1970s and scanned into the Digitized Sky Survey
in the 1990s. The collection includes a set of prints measuring 14x17" from the photograph
atlas, as well as a written survey guide and catalog of plates.
Language of Material:
English .
The collection has not been processed. It may contain restricted materials. Please contact
the Department of Special Collections and Archives in advance to request access.
Property rights reside with the University of California. Copyrights are retained by the
creators of the records and their heirs. For permission to reproduce or to publish, please
contact the Head of Special Collections and Archives.
National Geographic Society, Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (NGS-POSS) photographs.
MS-M032. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California. Date
accessed.
For the benefit of current and future researchers, please cite any additional information
about sources consulted in this collection, including permanent URLs, item or folder
descriptions, and box/folder locations.
Transfered from Virginia Trimble, Department of Physics and Astronomy.
Collection Scope and Content Summary
This collection consists of photographs from the National Geographic Society – Palomar
Observatory Sky Survey (NGS-POSS). From 1948 to 1958 astronomers at the California Institute
of Technology's Palomar Observatory used a 48-inch Schmidt Telescope to create this sky
survey, at the time the most advanced sky survey ever. The survey detected objects of a
magnitude of +22, one million times fainter than the limits of human vision. The NGS-POSS
collection of photographic negative prints was published multiple times through the
1950s-1970s and scanned into the Digitized Sky Survey in the 1990s. The collection includes
a set of prints measuring 14x17" from the photograph atlas, as well as a written survey
guide and catalog of plates.