Like most passions, it was at a young age that the attraction to the vastness of the sky was revealed. At the age of 7, my parents gave me a “telescope”. This would allow me to contemplate mainly our natural satellite: the moon, in its different phases. Curious at heart, it was later, as I progressed through my school career, that I gradually developed my knowledge of astronomy. I became aware of the very nature of stars, and of the existence of a multitude of celestial objects. Not stopping there, I became interested in celestial mechanics, as well as the universe in its entirety, from adolescence. Around the age of 25, I looked into astrophysics and particularly general relativity and special relativity, the works of Albert Einstein.
As a photography enthusiast, it was only in 2015, after acquiring an old SLR camera, that I decided to take the plunge and combine these two passions: Photography and Astro, in order to be able to image myself the celestial objects that I had long heard about until then. It was with a minimum of equipment that I was able to acquire second-hand, that I was able to image deep sky objects for the first time. Each time, it is a wonder to be able to see the photo of a celestial object displayed, some of which are invisible to the naked eye, even through a telescope. This feeling could be compared to that of discovering a treasure.
After starting out in astrophotography with a simple mount that I motorized myself with a kit, as well as a Newtonian telescope, I gradually learned the different capture techniques, as well as the use of the equipment. It was by taking several photos that I began to improve my performance, in particular by increasing exposure times and looking for objects that were more difficult to image. The situation also allowed me to develop my equipment, and this, until today. I specialized in deep sky, and particularly nebulae. It is by using special filters that I am able to capture certain wavelengths of light relative to specific gases, such as Hydrogen Alpha, Sulfur II, or even Oxygen III. These are the same filters that were used by the Hubble space telescope.
Always looking to be able to image objects in the universe from the most common to the most interesting, I do not hesitate to push the limits of photography by chaining nights of capture and exposure times of several tens of minutes, on very dim and rarely photographed objects. Some of my photos have also been rewarded in competitions or even published in magazines. In the near future, I plan to acquire another type of telescope using a different technology than the one I have, in order to capture fairly small objects in the celestial vault, to reveal as much detail as possible. In 2021, I created a company specializing in the online sale of astronomy and astrophotography equipment: Planete Astro (www.planete-astro.com).
My passion: Capturing the invisible, light years away.
Jordan Marlière