First Light: Astronomy & Photography The exhibition will be opened on Saturday 6 March 2010 (from 5 to 7 pm) by Prof. Dr. Huib Henrichs, professor of astronomy at the VU University Amsterdam and the Astronomical Institute Anton Pannekoek, University of Amsterdam. The exhibition First Light will be Huis Marseille's first large presentation on the relationship between photography and astronomy. Unusual historical photographs are to be combined with the most spectacular images from famous space telescopes and spacecraft. Since the late 19th century, astronomers have been exploring the limits of human perception by way of photography. Those limits were surpassed once and for all with the arrival of space travel and the satellite. In photographs, the seemingly infinite size of the universe is reduced to human proportions, yet it remains an elusive idea. Partly for that reason, astronomy has had a long history of popularizing research. In the past, original photographs appeared in illustrated non-specialist publications on astronomy. Nowadays the information that astronomers gather for their research is translated into spectacular and almost painterly images that reach us via newspapers, magazines, television and the Internet. The exhibition will comprise a first-time combination of uniqe historical astronomy photographs, from Dutch collections, and present-day images made by famous telescopes and space probes such as ESO, Hubble and Cassini. Organized in collaboration with the Stichting Academisch Erfgoed (SAE) and the Nedelrandse Onderzoekschool voor Astronomie (NOVA). Publication The exhibition will be accompanied by a richly illustrated guidebook containing texts by Saskia Asser, curator of Huis Marseille, and Huib Henrichs, professor of astronomy at the University of Amsterdam and the VU University Amsterdam. Published by Architectura & Natura; design by Michaël Snitker; ca. 500 pages, 150 photographs. Price: ca. 30 euros.