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Born in 1954, at the dawn of the space age, R Jay GaBany grew up and matured during a time when mankind’s fascination with the great mysteries beyond our home planet has surged. His interest in astronomy started at an early age, sparked by the Apollo Moon Landing program. Repeated viewings of Kubrick’s epic 2001: A Space Odyssey solidified his enthusiasm so when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were bouncing on the lunar surface, Jay was in his back yard observing the moon through his first telescope, a 2.5 inch Tasco refractor on an altazamuth mount given to him by his parents. He later modified the tripod so it could be polar aligned and rigged an inexpensive film roll camera so its shutter would remain open and took his first long exposure picture with that rickety setup, featuring the 1969 passage of Comet Bennett. This photo helped him win the West Virginia High School science fair open competition in 1970. But it was Carl Sagan's vision that ignited his adult enthusiasm for astronomy like gasoline on an open fire when Cosmos debuted on the PBS television network in 1980 and shortly thereafter he acquired his first 8-inch Schmidt-cassegrain telescope. Many other telescopes followed, as did two years learning how to image with a 35mm camera in time for the passing of Halley's comet in 1986. Family, kids, career and expenses, however, turned him into a spectator as amateur astronomy converted from film to CCD imagery during the 1990's.
Moving from Connecticut to San Jose, California in the late nineteen nineties, Jay began designing web-based travel reservation systems during the day but at night, he began to hear a familiar call from sky. His fascination with taking deep space pictures was re-sparked during an un-planned late night tour of personal websites filled with fantastic CCD astro-images convinced him to re-engage with astronomy.
"The works of Carl Sagan fueled my fervor for astronomy but it was the imagery of Russ Crowman, Adam Block, the Spiegelteam and, particularly, Robert Gendler that provided ongoing inspiration while I learned the hobby. Learning to produce images of the night sky with a CCD camera proved to be the most challenging, rewarding and addictive activity I have ever undertaken."
Today, Jay's images are taken with SBIG 11 mega-pixel STL-11000M cameras equipped with the AO-L Adaptive Optics device via Internet control from two remote dark locations, one situated high in the south central mountains of New Mexico and the other about fifty miles east of Melbourne, Australia. Casual visual observations are made from his home with a Takahashi CN-212 telescope and EM-200 mount.
Jay is on the Board of Directors of the Advanced Imaging Conference and a member of the Kitt Peak Visitor Center Advisory Board. Approximately 80% of his pictures have appeared at least once in magazines or books including astronomical publications produced in several countries: Ciel et Espace (France), Astronomie (France), Populär Astronomi (Sweden), Zenit (Netherlands), Coelum (Italy), la Estelle (Italy), the Practical Astronomer (UK), Astronomy Now (UK), Sky News (Canada), Astronomy (US), Sky & Telescope (US), and Hoshi Navi (Japan). Nine of his images have been selected for display at NASA's Astropho of the Day (APOD). Jay has also been interviewed, live, from a radio station in New Castle, Australia on several occasions. This year, 2007, Jay is an invited speaker at two San Francisco Bay area Astronomy Organizations, at the East Coast Conference on Astronomical Imaging, this fall in Philadelphia and again, at the Advanced Imaging Conference in San Jose, this October. Last year (2006) Jay had the distinction of being the first (and thus far the only) speaker at the Advanced Imaging Conference to receive a standing ovation at the conclusion of his presentation.
Jay is known not only for his wonderful images, but also for the creative narratives that often accompany them. His enthusiasm and sense of wonder transports us, visually and emotionally, to other worlds. SBIG is proud to welcome him to the Hall of Fame and pleased to present him with our Award for Excellence in Astronomical Imaging.
To see more of R. Jay Gabany's work, please visit his web site at http://www.cosmotography.com
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Jay's backyard observatory, Takahashi Mewlon 300 and ST-10XME camera with AO-7 Adaptive Optics |
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