The Royal Observatory, Greenwich has added a new section to its online collection, with images and information on popular astronomy from the 18th and 19th Centuries. The objects show how study of the heavens became a pastime for masses. The fundamentals of the firmament were no longer the preserve of specialists, as everyone from schoolboys to pastors found happiness in the stars.

My personal favourite is this explanation of eclipses, from Universal Magazine in 1748, pre-empting the partial eclipse (in London) of July 14 that year.

While the thrust of the illustration is scientific, the amiable expression on the sun’s face harks back to earlier, pre-Enlightenment days.

The illustration of London is also of interest. The dome of St Paul’s, then just 50 years old, dominates the scene, with the spires of Wren’s St Bride’s and St Martin-Within-Ludgate also clear. But the orientation is unusual, taken from the fields of Islington (with Sadler’s Wells in the foreground) rather than the more common vantage of the South Bank. The reason, of course, is that a view looking to the North, as so often depicted in similar drawings, would face away from the sun.

Two sun-watchers (and a dog) are also depicted, noting the eclipse from Penton Rise through a telescope. A similar educational feature today would be at pains to warn you against this method of observation.

Plenty of other fascinating insights into popular Georgian science can be found on the observatory web site.