Thierry Legault (born 1962) is a French amateur astronomer, specializing in

astrophotography Astrophotography, also known as astronomical imaging, is the photography or imaging of astronomical objects, celestial events, or areas of the night sky. The first photograph of an astronomical object (the Moon) was taken in 1839, but it was no ...

An engineer by trade, he started astrophotography in 1993 and resorted to

CCD camera A charge-coupled device (CCD) is an integrated circuit containing an array of linked, or coupled, capacitors. Under the control of an external circuit, each capacitor can transfer its electric charge to a neighboring capacitor. CCD sensors are a ...

s to photograph the

deep sky A deep-sky object (DSO) is any astronomical object that is not an individual star or Solar System object (such as Sun, Moon, planet, comet, etc.). The classification is used for the most part by amateur astronomers to denote visually observed fa ...

. He then joined the ''Association des utilisateurs de détecteurs electroniques (l'AUDE)'', which aims to develop astronomical observation based on electronic detectors. In 1994, along with Christian Buil, he participated in a mission at the Pic du Midi Observatory on the collision of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...

and launched himself into planetary photography. He is the first amateur to have shown on his photographs the division of Encke on the rings of

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...

. His photographs of the deep sky, the planets, the Moon and the Sun (eclipses and HA images) are published in numerous astronomical journals. Its image of the solar transit of the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

(ISS) and the Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'' was presented on

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

in the introduction of the weather report of Femi Oke of October 6, 2006. He photographed the transit of the Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'' with the

Hubble Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope (HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the Orbiting Solar Observatory, first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most ...

during its service mission in May 2009. He photographed the transit of the International Space Station in front of the sun during the partial eclipse of January 4, 2011. On June 6, 2012, during the transit of

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

, he traveled to Australia to photograph Venus and the Hubble Space Telescope in front of the Sun. The

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; , UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and developmen ...

gave its name to ( 19458 Legault) (1998 HE8), an asteroid of the main belt discovered in 1998 by Michel Bœuf. In 1999, the ''

Société astronomique de France The Société astronomique de France (SAF; ), the France, French astronomical society, is a non-profit association in the public interest organized under French law (Association loi de 1901). Founded by astronomer Camille Flammarion in 1887, its ...

'' awarded him the Marius Jacquemetton Prize, which rewards "a remarkable astronomical work in the field of popularization as well as in the practice of amateur astronomy". He published ''Le grand atlas de la Lune'' (''The Grand Atlas of the Moon'') with Serge Brunier at

Éditions Larousse Éditions Larousse () is a French publishing house specialising in reference works such as dictionaries. It was founded by Pierre Larousse, and for some time was known also as Librarie Larousse; its best-known work is the '' Petit Larousse'' sin ...

in 2004 and in 2006, ''Astrophotography'', which received the Special Jury Prize of the Festival d'astronomie de Haute-Maurienne 2007.

References

External links

astrophoto.fr

{{DEFAULTSORT:Legault, Thierry 21st-century French astronomers 1962 births Living people 20th-century French astronomers Astrophotographers French photographers