Jessica 'Jessie' Duncan Piazzi Smyth on Mount Guajara, right hand photograph of a stereoscopic pair

Stereoscopic view with Jessica 'Jessie' Piazzi Smyth at Guajara Station, from the 'Tenerife Papers of Charles Piazzi Smyth', a scrapbook of watercolours and stereographs from his 1856-57 astronomical expedition to this volcanic mountain range in Tenerife.Published in Teneriffe: an astronomer's experiment; or, Specialities of a residence above the clouds, published by Charles Piazzi Smyth in 1858.

Jessie is observing two radiation thermometers mounted on a brick wall in the Guajara Station. These thermometers were likely a means of measuring the temperature of stars via the level of radiation they emit. Guajara was the first stop made by Smyth's party on their ascent to the peak of Tenerife, or Mount Teide. Jessie Piazzi Smyth, Charles Piazzi Smyth's wife, was a member of this party. A mounted 3.6 inch Sheepshanks telescope is visible in the foreground.

The image records one of the locations where Charles Piazzi Smyth and his party set up an observatory as part their expedition to the peak of Tenerife. 'Jessie' Piazzi Smyth was a geologist and took part of geological expeditions on the British Isles, Switzerland, Italy, and, with her husband, the Canary Islands. She was also the photographer behind many photographs Charles Piazzi Smyth used to illustrate reports and publications.

Charles Piazzi Smyth (1819-1900) Italian Astronomer was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1857, but resigned in 1874.