Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Over countless years, Scottish inventor and amateur astronomer James Nasmyth spent many nights observing our moon, fascinated with the ridges and craters that cover its surface.

Using his own homemade telescope, plaster of Paris, and a camera, Nasmyth made incredibly detailed models and photographs of the moon, eventually publishing a book on his theories and ideas on the lunar surface.

Join Abbie McKinnon, Curator of Space Technology at the Science Museum, as she explores what happens when art and science collide.

Chapters
00:00 Intro
01:13 Who Was James Nasmyth?
01:55 Nasmyth's Lunar Observations
02:40 The Lunar Photographs
03:15 Art and Science
04:20 The Moon, Considered a Planet...
05:15 The Volcanism Theory
06:09 Standing on the Lunar Surface
07:06 Like and Subscribe!

Ext Imagery/Video
NASA
Wikimedia Commons