Roberts’ 1888 Andromeda Photo: A Spiral Revealed Without Space Telescopes

An 1888 photograph by Isaac Roberts using a 510 mm reflector captured Andromeda, revealing its spiral structure long before space telescopes—demonstrating that innovative tracking and long exposures with modest gear could unveil galaxy details; the piece compares Roberts’ work to modern Hubble imagery, notes his invention of copper-plate stellar maps, and mentions his telescope is in the Science Museum while encouraging learning astrophotography today.