Film experts create 4k version of oldest solar eclipse film from 1900

Film experts at the British Film Institute and staff at the Royal Astronomical Society have discovered the oldest film of an eclipse, rescanned the footage and created a 4k version of it. The original film is from the year 1900.

The Royal Astronomical Society writes that the original recording has been painstakingly scanned and restored in the form of a 4k version, with the film recomposed and timed frame by frame. The result can be admired on YouTube, although the resolution of the video does not go beyond 720p.

The original film was made in North Carolina by British magician Nevil Maskelyne at the time. This was his second attempt at capturing the natural phenomenon. In 1898 he also tried it from India, but that recording was stolen. According to film curator Bryony Dixon, Maskelyne wanted to use the recording as something new for his magical theater show.

As far as we know, this is the oldest film ever made of a solar eclipse. It was not an easy task to record the phenomenon. Maskelyne used a special, homemade telescopic adapter that he placed on his camera.

A remarkable coincidence: Between 1732 and 1811, long before the magician, an astronomer named Nevil Maskelyne lived in England. He was best known for the Schiehallion experiment, named after the mountain on which it was conducted, to determine the density of the Earth using a plumb bob.