For this month’s “Stellar People” interview, we got to hear from world renowned Astro Imager Jon Talbot. Jon Shared with us his love for the night sky, as well as the path he took to becoming an amateur astronomer with a passion for imaging. His story shows the dedication that it takes to master one’s craft and the hard work that is required to do so. He also shares how Stellarvue has allowed him to better image the night sky, in greater detail. Without further ado, here is Jon’s story. 

Jon first became interested in the night sky when he looked through a refractor that his cousin got for Christmas. While this sparked his interest in science, it wasn’t until he took an elective course in astronomy that he was truly able to observe the night sky. “The night sky above the college I went to in Northern Vermont was dark. As part of the course, we had to find all the constellations visible during that time of the year. Later, in the late 90’s, I read a story about Comet Hale Bopp, and I actually saw it one night, and it was huge. I spent the next year reading books about astronomy and researching types of telescopes. In 1997 I bought my first telescope. A Walmart special Tasco refractor." After spending a couple of years looking at the night sky, reading about astronomy and using the cheap Tasco scope to look at Jupiter, Jon bought a small 4” reflector in May of 2000. He used it to see “small faint fuzzies” in his backyard and learn about the night sky. Around this time, he got a subscription to Sky and Telescope Magazine and saw many cool pictures in the gallery section, that normal people had taken through their telescopes. “I thought, how hard can this be? In July 2001 I upgraded to an 8” Meade LX 200 and thought that now since I have a “real” telescope, I can start taking pictures.” Jon then convinced his wife to let him buy a digital camera that he could use with the scope. "Of course, it would be dual purpose to take normal pictures too." He then decided that he needed a building to put the scope in. So, he built a small roll off roof building in his backyard, to host the Meade scope. This is where he took his first eyepiece projection image of Saturn. We asked Jon, what exactly it was about taking images of the night sky that sparked his interest? He responded by saying, “At first, when I tried eyepiece projection photography, it was more of the challenge aspect of it, to see if I could do it. The planets are bright, and good detail could be seen even from my suburban location. Once I tried taking images of deep sky objects, it was exciting that I could actually see these things, where otherwise, they were invisible. It was extremely gratifying to actually be able to see detail in these objects too. Seeing detail pushed me to want to do better.” When asked, what in particular was the aspect of astro-imaging that attracted him the most early on? Jon said that it was the idea that he could actually see things by imaging that he could not see visually. In regard to those who inspired him to image the night sky, he stated that early on, he “saw the images of Robert Gendler, Tony Hallas and others.” Their beautiful images made him want to learn how to do this too. “Robert Gendler, in particular imaged from suburban Connecticut. At the time, I figured if he could do it from light pollution, so could I.” 

We wanted to learn what sort of feelings accompany Jon when he is imaging the night sky and processing his images. He explained to us that each image he takes and processes, brings up the wonder of what else is in the image, beyond what he thinks is there. He stated that “sometimes you see things as your state of processing moves along, that you never expected to see.” In regard to the sorts of objects he tends to image, Jon said that he has imaged almost all of the typical, bright deep sky objects and over the last several years he has decided to go after much more challenging things. “I’m really interested in imaging undiscovered objects, or objects that have been discovered but no image exists of. In the last two years, I’ve imaged multiple objects that had never been imaged before by amateurs. I’ve become very interested in helping several amateur researchers find new planetary nebulae. Luckily, there are resources online that list many of these objects. If they are super faint, I’m in.” There are several objects in particular that Jon is most proud of imaging. One is “an object called FR 2-30, a potential planetary nebula in Andromeda. Out of the blue, I got an email from a professional astronomer, asking if I’d be willing to be a co-author on a paper they were writing. They had seen my image which was the first color image of this object and they had taken spectra on it using professional equipment on Kitt Peak. They wanted to include the image in their paper. It was extremely gratifying that I could help professionals figure out the real makeup on an object. The paper was published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Another object came from a similar “out of the blue” request. I had imaged an object discovered by team StDr, a group out of France and Germany. They saw my image, which was the first color image of this object called StDr 44 in Monoceros. They published it in the yearly calendar they do."

"After that, one of the team members who knew I was working with another amateur discoverer Dana Patchick, asked if I wanted to image an object he had discovered. No one had imaged this before. I gladly accepted and we produced the first color image of Pa J0637.4 +3327 in Auriga.”

Next, we asked Jon, when he first discovered Stellarvue Telescopes and how that has made a difference for him? He answered by saying, “I think I first saw a Stellarvue telescope in an ad. In 2001 I was looking for a small refractor and purchased one of the original Stellarvue Nighthawks. It made a huge difference in what I do now, since after that original purchase, Vic invited me to talk about some of the images I was taking with the Night Hawk. This led to me being able to help Vic test many of Stellarvue’s telescopes which ultimately led me to purchase an imaging powerhouse, the SVX152T.” To wrap up his interview, we asked Jon, if the knowledge and experience with astro-imaging has taken a long-time to build up? He brought things to a close with the following response. “Yes. Imaging is hard. Not only does one have to master their equipment (mount, camera, telescope), one has to also figure out how to process these images. I basically learned by doing, as there were no online courses available when I started, like there are now. One also never quits learning. It’s a never-ending process. The basics took about 5 years. The rest of the good stuff took another 10 years, and the learning never stops.”

Stellarvue is very inspired by Jon's story, and we hope our readers are as well. Our community is full of great people who have accomplished great things. We are truly thankful to all of you who support what we do and why we do it and look forward to covering more stories like this one.