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A Movie From Before Movies Were Invented

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the break-out-the-huey-lewis dept.

Alien54 writes "Two astronomers at the Lick Observatory on Mt. Hamilton near San Jose have discovered a set of 147 plates taken of the transit of Venus in 1882. They've assembled them into a Quicktime movie! Think about it. This is a movie from before movies were invented. As a point of comparison, Edison didn't get his films going until the 1890s. This is just around the time when Muybridge was doing his work on the motion of horses and people."

3 of 161 comments (clear)

  1. Galileo's sunspots by apothoray · · Score: 5, Interesting

    How about Galielo's Sunspots from 1612. Really, any 2D, time series data can be considered a "movie".

  2. Re:Yeah, but by AdamInParadise · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Porn was found in the remains of Pompei. I'm pretty sure someone will come up with a sample of Egyptian porn (being 2000BC).

    Now does anyone have an example of Neoholitic porn? Goddess of fertility doesn't count.

    --
    Nobox: Only simple products.
  3. Lick Observatory is a treasure trove by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I used to work up at Lick Observatory when I was in College. They have a real treasure trove up there, so I'm not surprised that someone has stumbled across this stuff.

    The stuff really ought to be cataloged and put on display. Some of it is priceless.

    Aside from James Licks' body being buried under the base of the 36" telescope, back in the archive storage that have a lot of interesting things from history. Like some of the equipment used for the experiment which established that the speed of light was a constant in a vacuum. The actual seismic records from the San Francisco Earthquake. I've forgotten what else; but those things stand out. It's a huge storage area up there.

    Plus they have a copy of UC Berkeley's student records. It's used as a safe place in case of disaster. Also, James Licks' deathbed is there too. And the safe they have is straight from the 1800's.

    In case any two-bit crackers are thinking about breaking in and exploring it, forget about it. Security is excellent up there. I busted a clueless group once myself. And the cops they have are real aggressive hard-asses.