The night sky on the night of Edwin Hubble's Andromeda plate — 5 October 1923
On the night of 5–6 October 1923 Edwin Hubble photographed the Andromeda nebula with the 100-inch Hooker telescope on Mount Wilson. On the plate he found a Cepheid variable star and marked it 'VAR!'. Its brightness showed that Andromeda lies far beyond the Milky Way — a separate galaxy, and proof that the universe is far bigger than astronomers had thought.
The sky over Mount Wilson Observatory, California, USA
This is the real sky above Mount Wilson Observatory, California, USA (34.23°N, 118.06°W) on 5 October 1923 at 23:00 PST (UTC−8) that night (1923-10-06 07:00 UTC). The Sun was 59° below the horizon: it was full night. The Moon (waning crescent, 20% lit) was below the horizon. No bright planet was above the horizon. Brightest named stars up: Vega, Capella, Rigel, Betelgeuse and Altair.
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