Photograph of the moon, taken by Russell and Short Sydney Observatory, about 1891, original negative held by Powerhouse Museum
Sometime around July 1891 Sydney Observatory received a new enlarging lens for the star camera. This attachment, when combined with the Grubb lens which had arrived in September the previous year, enabled the observatory to take highly magnified images of double stars, the moon and other objects.
Once fixed to the telescope the camera was able to produce glass plates 6 ½ x 6 ½ inches (16.5 x 16.5 cm) square, which was the size stipulated for the Mapping the Stars project. This gave the instrument a magnifying power of the telescope equal to 179 feet (5455.9 cm). The Dallmeyer lens previously used had produced a result which was the equivalent of taking a direct photograph in a telescope 47 feet (1432.6cm) long.
