A Celestial Library on Glass
The Astronomical Observatory of Córdoba holds a unique and irreplaceable collection: around 20,000 photographic glass plates that map the southern sky. This archive represents a century of astronomical observation, with plates dating from 1893 to 1983. Founded on October 24, 1871, by then-president Domingo F. Sarmiento, the observatory showed the scientific ambition for the young nation. Its first director, the American astronomer Benjamin Apthorp Gould, was invited to establish a world-class institution dedicated to charting the relatively unexplored southern celestial hemisphere.
Before the photographic era began in earnest, Gould and his small team undertook a monumental visual survey. Using just their eyes and small binoculars, they meticulously recorded the positions and brightness of over 7,000 stars. This effort resulted in the 1877 publication of Uranometría Argentina, a foundational catalog of the southern stars. Soon after, the observatory embraced photography. Using a 28 cm refracting telescope, astronomers began the first systematic, large-scale photographic survey in astronomical history. This work, called Fotografías Cordobesas, was published in 1896 and cemented the observatory's international reputation. The largest single project, the Córdoba Durchmusterung, was completed in 1932 and cataloged the positions and magnitudes of 613,959 southern stars.