This month for our "Stellar People" story, we featured Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine, Jerome Yesavage. He is also an avid astro-imager with a passion for the night sky and all it has to offer. Jerome shared with us his journey as an amateur astronomer and some of his experiences along the way.

Jerome first became interested in the night sky while spending a great deal of time outdoors, mountaineering and fishing, primarily in Yosemite. While engaged in these activities, he had a lot of time to contemplate the sky there, in the High Sierra.

Jerome first became interested in astro-imaging when his late mother-in-law broke her hip. While his wife went to take care of her Mom, Jerome began putting a scope he had inherited to good use. “I put an iPhone up to the eyepiece and could see the moon and was hooked.”

When asked what it was about taking images of the night sky that sparked his interest, Jerome responded saying, “I have always done a lot of photography, in particular, in relation to fishing, so I had a technical background. Thus, it seemed like an easy challenge to move up to astrophotography. Fish are in many ways hard targets.”

In particular, the aspect of astro-imaging that interested Jerome the most, was being able to set up in his backyard and have a hobby that was easy to access and resulted in nice photos. He began exercising this hobby on his own and managed to educate himself on the ins and outs of the craft. We asked Jerome what sort of thoughts or feelings tend to accompany him when taking or processing images, and he responded with the following. “I have read a lot of science fiction, and I am just wondering who else is out there and where. Jerome shared that he lives in a highly light polluted area, so he was attracted to narrow band imaging. “I made a goal of doing all 313 Sharpless 2 Objects which I completed a couple years ago.” The image he is most proud of capturing was a shot of Sh2 275, the “Rosette Nebula,” which he put on the cover of his 2022 Christmas card. To get a closer look at this image, click here for Jerome's AstroBin.

Next, we asked Jerome who some of his favorite astro-imagers are. He said, “I like Jon Talbot’s work with the SVX152T, and several others on AstroBin have been helpful with various technical issues, such as Gary Imm.” When asked what telescope got him interested in what he does now, Jerome responded saying “I wanted to try the 130 because I only had a wide-angle scope and wanted to try something medium. I have also had very long focal length scopes too. I was very interested in the quality of the optics and Stellarvue is only 2 hours away from me. So, I consider myself semi-local and used to have a place in Tahoe, so I went by all the time.” We wanted to know the circumstances surrounding Jerome’s discovery of Stellarvue Telescopes and how that has made a difference for him. He said, “since I wanted a longer FL scope, at the time I had a Takahashi 180, so I looked at the Tak 106. Seemed the Stellarvue had higher standards of quality control (unique standards) and had the 130 mm for the price of the Tak 106… and you were “local.”

In relation to his experience astro-imaging, we asked Jerome if his knowledge and skills he has acquired took a long time to build. He responded saying, “yes, it’s been over a decade, and I am still learning every day.” We then asked if there were ever any moments where he struggled to grasp, learn or acquire the knowledge, skills or resources necessary to continue pursuing his passion of astro-imaging and how that worked out for him. He stated in response, “Oh, there is such a community around, that you can get questions answered quickly. I made a strategic decision early to automate my observatory with a roll off roof and the only software that did it all was ACP. I have a software support contract with them, and they are outstanding (Bob Denny).

We proceeded to ask Jerome, in what ways has astro-imaging contributed to who and where he is today. Jerome’s answer went as follows. “Well, I think it has fit more into who I am than changed me. I have always been a photographer and interested in technology, so I always felt at home there.” Something that Jerome wished he would have done earlier in his astro-imaging journey was to take some basic courses in optics and get some of the fundamental concepts down. Advice that Jerome would like to give to up and comers pursuing astro-imaging as a hobby or career, is to “find a club and a mentor. There are a lot of people around nowadays.” As our interview with Jerome came to a close, we asked him if there was anything else he would like to share about his astro-imaging journey, or anything related. He ended things with the following. “No, just appreciate the quality control efforts that Vic and the crew suffer through. None of this is easy." 

We at Stellarvue are energized by Jerome’s well-rounded story, as well as all the inspiration and wisdom that can be gathered from it. We are extremely grateful for the time he took out of his busy schedule to share his experiences with us, and we hope he continues capturing the night sky and enjoying its expanse.