July 17, 1850The first photograph of a star is taken at the Harvard Observatory. The star photographed was Vega in the Lyra constellation, the 2nd brightest star in the Northern Hemisphere.*** "On the night of July 16–17, 1850, Whipple and Bond made the first daguerreotype of a star (Vega)"First star photograph (α Lyrae, Vega) obtained by John Adams Whipple and William Cranch Bond using the 38 cm Harvard refractor (daguerreotype, 100 s exposure).Observational History Astrophotography, the photography of celestial objects, began in 1840 when John William Draper took an image of the Moon using the daguerreotype process. On 17 July...