Despite the fact that the big refractor of the Paris Exposition Universelle 1900 was a financial failure for its sponsors there is not significant trace of a misfunction of the system, the photographic shots of the Lyra nebula taken inside the exhibition show it could be used inside the most extraordinarily unfavourable surroundings a telescope ever met: plenty of coal smoke from the power stations and nearby factories and many high power arc projectors of the electricity palace demonstrating the bright future of electric lighting.
