astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

, a discovery image is typically a drawing, film base photograph,

photographic plate Photographic plates preceded photographic film as a capture medium in photography, and were still used in some communities up until the late 20th century. The light-sensitive emulsion of silver salts was coated on a glass plate, typically thinn ...

, or digital image in which a celestial object or phenomenon was first found. This can include

planets A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a young ...

dwarf planets A dwarf planet is a small planetary-mass object that is in direct orbit of the Sun, smaller than any of the eight classical planets but still a world in its own right. The prototypical dwarf planet is Pluto. The interest of dwarf planets to p ...

, small solar system bodies (asteroids, comets, etc.) or features found on or near those objects such as ring systems or large craters. For example, a moon of

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...

, Phoebe, was the first satellite to be discovered photographically by William Henry Pickering on March 17, 1899 from photographic plates that had been taken starting on August 16, 1898 at

Arequipa Arequipa (; Aymara and qu, Ariqipa) is a city and capital of province and the eponymous department of Peru. It is the seat of the Constitutional Court of Peru and often dubbed the "legal capital of Peru". It is the second most populated city ...

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

by DeLisle Stewart.Pickering, E. C.
''A New Satellite of Saturn''
Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 9, No. 4 (April 10, 1899), pp. 274–276
The Observatory, Vol. 22, No. 278 (April 1899), pp. 158–159

Examples

Image:Discovery Charon.jpg, 1978 image of

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the S ...

and Charon; the discovery image of Charon Image:S2004 S 3 - PIA06115.png, Discovery image of Saturn's moon S/2004 S 3 Image:Io Volcanism Discovery image.jpg, Discovery image of active volcanism on Io Image:S2004s2 040601.jpg, Discovery image of Pallene Image:Mars m04 11e.jpg, Mariner crater on Mars, as viewed by Mariner 4

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Further reading