The first succesful Daguerrotype of the Sun, reproduced below,
was made on 2 April 1845 by the
physicists H. Fizeau and Leon Foucault (perhaps better known for their
various pioneering measurements of the speed of light). The
exposure was 1/60 of a second. This image shows the umbra/penumbra
structure of sunspots, as well as limb darkening.
Reproduction of the first daguerrotype of the Sun. The original
image was a little over 12 centimeters in diameter.
Reproduced from G. De Vaucouleurs,
Astronomical Photography, MacMillan, 1961 [plate 1].
Daguerre's photoraphic process was soon supplanted by a new technique developed starting in 1851, based on a colloidal suspension on a glass substrate. This is the direct ancestor of modern photographic film. In 1858 daily photographic record of the solar disk using a solar telescope especially designed for photography began at Kew, in England, under the leadership of Warren de la Rue