Camera, Satellite Tracking, Baker-Nunn, Film Canisters, Changing Bag

This is a set of film canisters with a changing bag from the Baker-Nunn wide-field telescopic cameras that were built for, and used by, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. The canisters hold film for take up and then exposure by the camera while changing bags were used to work with undeveloped film without exposing it light. In 1958, SAO established a worldwide network of 12 camera stations to photograph satellites slated to be launched during the International Geophysical Year. This mirror and its support are from the initial camera sited at Oregon Pass, NM. It obtained the first civilian photograph of a satellite when Sputnik 1 flew over the Boller and Chivens Company in Pasadena, California while the camera was still being tested. The modified Schmidt type optics were designed by James Baker and manufactured by Perkin-Elmer while the camera proper and mounting were designed by Joseph Nunn and manufactured by Boller and Chivens Company.

The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory transferred the camera to NASM in December 1980 as part of a general suite of satellite ranging and tracking systems employed by SAO, including a laser-ranging system.