--- title: The First-Ever Photo of a Total Solar Eclipse description: More than 150 years before the August 21, 2017 eclipse, the first picture of a total solar eclipse was taken in Prussia in 1851. canonical: https://time.com/4883424/solar-eclipse-first-photo-taken/ author: Madeline Farber article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-11T15:28:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:42:05.352Z article:section: Science og:title: This Is the First-Ever Photo of a Total Solar Eclipse og:description: It was taken by Johann Julius Friedrich Berkowski in 1851 og:url: https://time.com/4883424/solar-eclipse-first-photo-taken/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc02f67ef2391bbaf/6988d80c4ee2625b9930e673/solar-eclipse-daguereotype.jpg?branch=production&width=499&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 499 og:image:height: 281 og:image:alt: solar-eclipse-daguereotype og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Is the First-Ever Photo of a Total Solar Eclipse twitter:description: It was taken by Johann Julius Friedrich Berkowski in 1851 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc02f67ef2391bbaf/6988d80c4ee2625b9930e673/solar-eclipse-daguereotype.jpg?branch=production&width=499&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Is the First-Ever Photo of a Total Solar Eclipse > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=dade0dfa-5756-4e8f-97e1-5fbf7bb3001f&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Why Seeing A Total Solar Eclipse Is So Rare [Watch (HLS stream): Why Seeing A Total Solar Eclipse Is So Rare](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/X6t8RKE9.m3u8) (1:28)  _Published 2017-06-29. TIME's Jeff Kluger explains the phenomenon of a total solar eclipse._ by [Madeline Farber](https://time.com/author/madeline-farber/) ## Madeline Farber Aug 11, 2017 3:28 PM UTC  Julius Berkowski by [Madeline Farber](https://time.com/author/madeline-farber/) ## Madeline Farber Aug 11, 2017 3:28 PM UTC Millions of Americans will see a [total solar eclipse](http://time.com/4750899/total-solar-eclipse/) on Aug. 21, and many of them will point their [cameras](http://time.com/4887622/how-photograph-2017-solar-eclipse/) skyward to capture the celestial event. But it wasn’t so long ago that a solar eclipse was an even more fleeting phenomenon, experienced only by those who were lucky enough to witness it in person. That changed on July 28, 1851, when the first photo of a total solar eclipse was taken. Johann Julius Friedrich Berkowski, a Prussian known for his ability as a daguerreotypist, captured the image during a total solar eclipse in Königsberg, which is now Kaliningrad, Russia, [according to Space.com](https://www.space.com/37656-first-total-solar-eclipse-photo-ever.html). The Royal Prussian Observatory commissioned Berkowski to capture the photo of the eclipse, Space.com reports. Berkowski used the [daguerreotype process ](https://petapixel.com/2013/04/27/photographer-films-beautiful-ode-to-the-process-of-developing-a-daguerreotype/)to create the image, which was “state of the art” back in 1851, according to astrophysicist and eclipse expert Fred Espenak.  The oldest photo of a total eclipse is shown at the observatory of Jena University, Germany, 26 May 2003. Jan-Peter Kasper—dpa/AP The process begins with a silver-coated copper plate, which is buffed and polished until it resembles a mirror and is then made light-sensitive with chemicals, according to Space.com. Next, the plate is placed inside the camera and exposed to the scene that the photographer wants to capture. The light from that scene, in this case the moment of the total solar eclipse, leaves behind a hidden image on the copper plate. To make that image visible, it’s treated with mercury vapor in the dark, which removes the plate’s light sensitivity. When the black-and-white image has appeared, the plate is rinsed and framed behind glass. In Berkowski’s day, this process probably took about 15 minutes. Prior to Berkowski, many photographers tried and failed to capture a perfect image of an eclipse — often failing to show the brilliance of the sun’s corona and the darkness of the moon in a single image. “The daguerreotype process is very insensitive,” Espenak said in an interview. “Even in bight daylight, proper exposure takes a long time. An eclipse only lasts a couple of minutes and is not really bright, so most images at that time would be blurred.” ## Transcript Total solar eclipses occur when the moon passes directly between the Earth and the sun, blocking solar light. They're exceedingly rare. The last one to touch the US was in 1979. On average, they happen where you live once every 375 years. The sun is about 400 times larger than the moon, but the sun is also 400 times farther away so the two bodies appear about the same size to us on Earth. The moon orbits the Earth once each month, so why doesn't the moon shadow the Earth causing an eclipse with each pass? Partly because the moon's orbit is tilted slightly, which causes its shadow to miss the Earth most of the time. Another reason is if a moon's orbit is elliptical. For much of its orbit the moon is farther away from Earth and appears too small to block out the sun completely Those eclipses are called annular. Only when the eclipse occurs at the moon's closest approach is a visible total eclipse possible even then the narrow band of totality usually tracks over water or away from population centers that's why this total solar eclipse is so special. As it cuts a path of darkness across the US this August 21st, it could be the most viewed total eclipse in history, and for many the experience of a lifetime ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4883424/solar-eclipse-first-photo-taken/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4883424/solar-eclipse-first-photo-taken/"},"headline":"This Is the First-Ever Photo of a Total Solar Eclipse","datePublished":"2017-08-11T15:28:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:42:05.352Z","description":"It was taken by Johann Julius Friedrich Berkowski in 1851","url":"https://time.com/4883424/solar-eclipse-first-photo-taken/","keywords":["Eclipse","Space","onetime","space 2017"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc02f67ef2391bbaf/6988d80c4ee2625b9930e673/solar-eclipse-daguereotype.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Madeline Farber","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/madeline-farber/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc02f67ef2391bbaf/6988d80c4ee2625b9930e673/solar-eclipse-daguereotype.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"solar-eclipse-daguereotype","caption":"","creditText":"Julius Berkowski","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/eclipse/","name":"Eclipse"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4883424/solar-eclipse-first-photo-taken/","name":"This Is the First-Ever Photo of a Total Solar Eclipse"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Why Seeing A Total Solar Eclipse Is So Rare","description":"TIME's Jeff Kluger explains the phenomenon of a total solar eclipse.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/X6t8RKE9/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-06-29T21:57:11.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/X6t8RKE9.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4883424/solar-eclipse-first-photo-taken/","duration":"PT1M28S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4883424/solar-eclipse-first-photo-taken/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```