In 1834, Sir John Herschel sailed his family to Cape of Good Hope, where he would commence astronomical observations from a new purpose-built telescope. Because Herschel was famous—nearly as famous as his renowned astronomer father, Sir William Herschel—his travels were widely reported in newspapers around the globe. Then, as now, celebrity travel was entertainment fodder for the masses.
In August 1835, a series of news articles appeared in the New York Sun reporting on Herschel’s astronomical findings in South Africa. The first article described the telescope in great detail: A 7.3 m lens, six times the size of Herschel Sr.’s telescope, weighed “14,826 lbs. or nearly seven tons after being polished; and its estimated magnifying power 42,000 times. It was therefore presumed to be capable of representing objects in our lunar satellite of little more than eighteen inches in diameter.”
In other words, this telescope could purportedly see objects as small as a toaster oven on the Moon. From Earth. After a lengthy exposition describing the setup and calibration of the telescope, the article describes the team turning their instrument to the Moon. There, Herschel observed—gasp!—dark red flowers, “the first organic production of nature in a foreign world ever revealed to the eyes of men.” He also saw a forest, lakes, white sand beaches, and volcanoes. And then, to the scientist’s great wonder, he saw a herd of quadrupeds, similar to Earth’s bison, but smaller.
The breathtaking reports of Herschel’s discoveries were quickly picked up by other news outlets around the globe, and the public was nearly hysterical with excitement over his lunar discoveries. By the third article in the series, which described observations of another nine mammalian species, including horned bears and a bipedal beaver that carried its young cradled in its arms, the world was agog.
And the world might have stayed enraptured a little longer if the next article hadn’t gone a step too far by announcing the discovery of Vespertilio homo, winged humanoid creatures with copper colored fur all over their bodies. At the revelation of bat people, all but the most gullible readers recognized that they had been duped.
The Great Moon Hoax, as it came to be known, was sensational, which is probably why people were eager to believe it. Real science, on the other hand, rarely warrants such breathless reportage. Even Herschel, when he learned of the series that had borrowed his name and reputation without permission, remarked that “his own actual work would seem quite dull by comparison once it was published.”
The revelations in this issue of Photonics Focus, however, are all the more exciting because they are real. They explore some of the most significant and timely developments in astronomical instruments, including advances in astrophotonics, asteroid-hunting probes, and great leaps forward in laser communications, which make many other advances in space possible. Another feature article looks back at the emergence of amateur telescope builders in the early 20th century, and marvels at their technological contributions during the Second World War and beyond.
We don’t yet have a ground-based telescope that can resolve lunar objects as small as 18 inches, but today’s extremely large telescopes, small sats, and space probes are arguably much, much cooler. And that’s not a hoax.
Gwen Weerts, Editor-in-chief
