Footage Restored of a Full Solar Eclipse That Was Filmed in 1900

Earlier this week there was a lot of excitement over the full solar eclipse that took place, which was incredibly cool! It’s amazing to see something like that.

But now, let’s take a step back in time and watch a restored video of a full solar eclipse that was shot in 1900! The video was shot by magician and astronomer John Nevil Maskelyne in North Carolina.

This is possibly the oldest footage of its kind, and it was restored by experts at the BFI National Archive.

The video came with the following note: “The magic of a real solar eclipse filmed on 28 May, 1900 by a famous magician, Nevil Maskelyne, while on an expedition by The British Astronomical Association to North Carolina. In 1898 he travelled to India to photograph an eclipse.”

“He succeeded but the film can was stolen on his return journey home. It was not an easy feat to film. Maskelyne had to make a special telescopic adapter for his camera to capture the event. This is the only film by Maskelyne that we know to have survived."

“The original film fragment held in The Royal Astronomical Society’s archive has been painstakingly scanned and restored in 4K by conservation experts at the BFI National Archive, who have reassembled and retimed the film frame by frame. The film is part of BFI Player’s recently released Victorian Film collection, viewers are now able to experience this first film of a solar eclipse since the event was originally captured over a century ago.”

Check this out!