He developed a reputation as a skilled technical artist, preparing and engraving diagrams for scientific publications.
[2][3] Wesley was asked by the astronomer Arthur Cowper Ranyard to prepare an engraving of the Sun's corona from photographs of the 1871 total solar eclipse.
When the position of assistant secretary to the Royal Astronomical Society became vacant, Cowper Raynard pushed Wesley to apply.
He concluded that photography was capable of recording more detail in the Sun's corona than could be seen visually through a telescope.
[2] Wesley was an author of articles in the Dictionary of National Biography, including the short one about the astronomer Arthur Cowper Ranyard.