Zes afbeeldingen van de zonnechromosfeer en een protuberans before 1893

These are six photographs of the solar chromosphere and a prominence, taken by George Ellery Hale in the late 19th century. Hale's work emerged during a period of intense scientific exploration and discovery, reflecting broader societal beliefs in progress and the power of empirical observation. As we consider Hale's images, we can reflect on the cultural and social contexts in which scientific knowledge is produced and disseminated. As a scientist and academic, Hale's work was likely influenced by prevailing gender and class dynamics within scientific communities. The act of observing and documenting celestial phenomena such as solar prominences raises questions about humanity's relationship to the cosmos and our place within it. "The whole operation," Professor Hale continues, "is completed in less than a minute, and the resulting photographs give the first true pictures of the sun, showing all of the various phenomena at its surface." Consider the emotional resonance of these images: the wonder and awe they may have inspired in viewers as they glimpsed the hidden workings of the universe, a universe that is not always readily visible to the naked eye.