Eugénio Conceição Silva was the father of Portuguese Amateur Astronomy. Silva’s long exposure astrophotographs were published in several astronomy books (e.g. H.E. Paul, 1970. Outer Space Photography). During more than 25 years Conceição Silva accumulated thousands of astronomical observations performed with several instruments. He was mainly interested in variable and double stars as well as in astrophotography. Some of his photographs reached seven hours of exposure (sometimes on 4 consecutive days). Between 1950 and 1958 Conceição Silva used a 500mm f/6 reflector made by himself and housed in a dome near Lisbon (Portugal). The results he obtained are still, by today standards, quite remarkable. He was also the founder of Lisbon Planetarium.

Data from E.C.Silva astrophotographs (Excel MsOffice97 file - 51Kb)
About the fine telescope of a Portuguese navy officer
"Scientific American - September 1952"
References to E.C.Silva work (L'Astronomie) (in french)

ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY BY EUGÉNIO CONCEIÇÃO SILVA (1903/1969) CD-Rom

This CD-Rom contains the majority of Silva's astrophotographs. Image files and Text files were included into several directories on the CD-ROM:

ASTRO- Subdirectories ATLASJPG and ATLASGIF include all the astrophotographs. All images were scanned using a HP scanner (150 d.p.i.). Each image has an associated text file including the following information- Object description, File, Image date, Emulsion, Telescope/Lens, Exposure Time, Author;

DATABASE- Excel and Access files (astrophotography.xls, astrophotography.mdb), MsOffice 97.

HTML- Html files. Open index.html using a browser (e.g. Nescape or Explorer);

VIEWERS- PicViewer (Freeware).

CD-Rom compiled by Pedro Re'

DEEP-SKY IMAGES

Messier 31,image data (1936)
Ngc7000,image data (1940)
Messier 45,image data (1940)
Orion,image data (1940)
Sagittarius,image data (1941)
Scutum,image data (1942)
Orion,image data (1942)
Circumpolar region,image data (1943)
Fedtke comet,image data (1943)
Messier 42,image data (1943)
Messier 33,image data (1945)
Messier 27,image data (1945)
Messier 11,image data (1946)
Messier 51,image data (1946)
Messier 42,image data (1946)
Ngc7789,image data (1950)
Messier 51,image data (1951)
Messier 46,image data (1951)
Ngc7000,image data (1952)
Messier 81,Image data (1952)
Messier 27,image data (1952)
Messier 11,image data (1952)
Ic 58, Ic 63,image data (1953)
Ngc6992,image data (1953)
Messier 31,image data (1953)
Messier 31,image data (1953)
Ngc6960,image data (1953)
Messier 22,image data (1953)
Messier 51,image data (1953)
Messier 31,image data (1954)
Ngc2237,image data (1955)
Messier 8,image data (1955)
Messier 13,image data (1957)