Trouvelot's Victorian-Era Space Illustrations (PHOTOS)

PHOTOS: 10 Awesome Space Illustrations from the 1870's

Today's giant telescopes offer amazing views of distant worlds. But it doesn't take modern technology costing millions to capture the awesome beauty and mystery of the night sky.

Case in point: 19th-century French entomologist-turned-astronomer Etienne Leopold Trouvelot (1827-1895), who created more than 6,000 astronomical illustrations while working for the Harvard College observatory. The illustrations, which span from 1872 until his death in 1895, depict a wide range of objects, from his clean, minimalist Jupiter to his realistic lunar volcanos.

Keep clicking to see 10 of Trouvelot's most spectacular works, recently digitized by the New York Public Library. All captions via NYPL.

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