Plate Series

Plates are cataloged by plate series and plate number. Each series typically represents a single telescope although some series, notably the "mb" series consists of data from multiple telescopes. Telescopes were occasionally moved to other observatories depending on observational goals.

The following table represents all of the Harvard plate series currently in the database.

The plate scale, if available, comes from the WCS fitting algorithm. Otherwise, the scale comes from archive records. The values provided here are not definitive for early "mc" plates before the objective was refigured, and for the multiple-telescope "mb" series.

There are currently 88 series in the database. The primary source of this information comes from Martha Hazen's History of the Plate Series. To see this source information, click on the series name in the table below.

seriesId	Series	Aperture (m)	Scale (arcsec/mm)	Telescope
1	a	0.6	59.57	24-inch Bruce Doublet
37	ab	0.0635	590	2.5-inch Ross Portrait Lens
2	ac	0.038	606.4	1.5-inch Cooke Lenses
38	acmisc			ac-b logbook. No plates.
39	aco	0.0254	611.3	1 in Cook Lens #832 Series renamed from ac-a
3	adh	0.76	68	32-36 inch BakerSchmidt 10 1/2 inch round Armagh-Dunsink-Harvard
40	ai	0.038	1360	Patrol cameras
41	ak	0.038	614.5	1.5 in Cooke "Long Focus"
4	al	0.038	1200	Cooke Short Focus
5	am	0.038	610.8	1-inch, 1.5-inch Cooke Lenses
42	an		574	New Cooke Lens
43	ax	0.076	695.7	3 inch Ross-Tessar Lens
44	ay	0.066	694.2	2.6-inch Zeiss-Tessar
79	ayroe	0.152		Roe 6-inch
6	b	0.2	179.4	8-inch Bache Doublet, Voigtlander, reworked by Clark
45	bc	0.406		16-inch Boller & Chivens
46	bi	0.038	1446	1.5 inch Ross (short focus)
7	bm	0.075	384	3-inch Ross
47	bo	0.0635	800	2.5 inch Voigtlander (Little Bache or "Bachito")
8	br	0.2	204	8-inch Brashear Lens
9	c	0.3	84	11-inch Draper Refractor
48	ca	0.0635	596	2.5 inch Cooke Lens
10	d			Positives
49	darnor		890	Darlot Lens North
50	darsou		890	Darlot Lens South
11	dnb	0.042	577.3	Damons North Blue
12	dnr	0.042	579.7	Damons North Red
13	dny	0.042	576.1	Damons North Yellow
14	dsb	0.042	574.5	Damons South Blue
15	dsr	0.042	579.7	Damons South Red
16	dsy	0.042	581.8	Damons South Yellow
51	ee	0.102	330	4-inch Voightlander Lens
52	er	0.076	390	3-inch Elmer Ross
17	fa	0.038	1298	1.5-inch Ross-Xpress
18	h	0.6	59.6	24-inch Clark Reflector
53	hsl			Henrietta Leavitt Logbooks. No plates.
19	i	0.2	163.3	8-inch Draper Doublet, Voigtlander Reworked by Clark
20	ir	0.2	164	8-inch Ross Lundin
21	j	0.6	98	24-33 in Jewett Schmidt
54	jdar	0.076	560	3-inch Darlot (Series renamed from j)
86	ka	0.071	1200	2.8-inch Kodak Aero-Ektar
87	kb	0.071	1200	2.8-inch Kodak Aero-Ektar
88	kc	0.127	650	K-19 Air Force Camera
89	kd	0.127	650	Air Force Camera
90	ke	0.071	1160	Eastman Aero-Ektar K-24 Lens on a K-19 Barrel
91	kf	0.071	1160	Eastman Aero-Ektar K-24 Lens on a K-19 Barrel
92	kg	0.071	1160	Eastman Aero-Ektar K-24 Lens on a K-19 Barrel Formerly KE
93	kge	0.071	1160	Eastman Aero-Ektar K-24 Lens on a K-19 Barrel Formerly KE
94	kh	0.071	1160	KE Camera with Installed Rough Focus
56	m	0.127		5-in Voightlander Transit Photometer
22	ma	0.3	93.7	12-inch Metcalf Doublet
23	mb	0.1	390	4-inch Cooke (1-327), 6-inch (328-1776) 3-inch Ross Lundin (2388-2722)
24	mc	0.4	97.9	16-inch Metcalf Doublet (Refigured after 3500)
25	md	0.1	193	4-inch Cooke Lens
82	me	0.038	600	1.5-inch Cooke Lenses
26	meteor	0.3	1200
27	mf	0.25	167.3	10-inch Metcalf Triplet
55	misc			Logbook Only. Pages without plates.
57	n			Transit Photometer
58	nviews			Landscapes and views (Series renamed from n)
60	o			Stellar
59	oa			Stellar
61	p			Eclipse Plates
81	pz	0.076	1553	3 inch Perkin-Zeiss Lens
64	q			Emulsion and Lens Tests
62	qa			Emulsion and Lens Tests
63	qb			Emulsion and Lens Tests
29	r	0.075	390	3-inch Ross Fecker
65	ra			Prints of Neg. Post (?) Enlargements
30	rb	0.075	395.5	3-inch Ross Fecker
31	rh	0.075	391.3	3-inch Ross Fecker
32	rl	0.1	290	4-inch Ross Lundin
66	ro		390
67	rp
68	s	1.52	26.3	60 inch Common
33	sb	1.5	26	60-inch Rockefeller Reflector
34	sh	1.5	26	61-inch Wyeth Reflector
77	solar			Solar (Series Discarded)
69	sp			Spectrum SH Plates
70	sq			SB Spectrum Plates
71	t			Sky Photometer
72	vq			Heinrich VQ (Spectrograph)
74	w			Slit Spectrograph
73	wa			Cooke Lens #11366 (Western Association)
78	ww			Heinrich Camera Lens
35	x	0.33	42.3	13-inch Boyden Refractor
75	y	0.203		8-inch Clark Doublet
76	z	0.33		13-inch Boyden Refractor (spectrum plates)