Lifestyle blog Even*Cleveland posted two stunning examples of daguerreotypes of the Moon on her site this month. Excerpted with each are selections from Jonathan Whipple’s The Schoolmate (1854), a tome wherein he describes for future astronomers the best way in which to photograph the moon.

Probably most of our readers will like to hear of this remarkable experiment in daguerreotyping. This wonderful invention has been used for years to amuse the public, and minister to our affections, by presenting faithful portraits of the absent or lost ones. It has now been fairly pressed into the service of the science of astronomy, and has been eminently successful.