Behind the Lens
For over forty years, James (Jimmy) A. Thibert has been capturing the light of our universe from the ground up. Operating from his home observatory in Fort Erie, Ontario, Jim balances the technical discipline of deep-sky astrophotography with a lifelong passion for terrestrial landscapes.
What began as a personal fascination with the night sky has evolved into decades of chasing faint, ancient photons. Using narrowband and wide-field integration techniques, Jim reveals the delicate dust filaments, stellar winds, and glowing nebulae that remain invisible to the naked eye.
This portfolio serves as a clean, non-commercial window into the cosmos—a way to share the raw, majestic beauty of the night sky (and the vibrant earthly landscapes beneath it) with friends, family, and fellow night-sky enthusiasts without distraction. Enjoy!
Primary Imaging System: Gli-Net MT3000AX Beryl, PrimaLuceLab Eagle5Pro, (Windows 11 Enterprise,) . Primary Scope system is a Pegasus NYX-101 mount, Tele-Vue NP101is, a Falcon2 Rotator, Cube3 Focuser, Pegasus NEO flatmaster,PowerSaddle,USB-Hub, QHY247C,Gerd CTU (54), Askar single 2" filter drawer, Antlia Triband RGB Ultra Filter - 2" Mounted, TeleVue Large Field Flattener, 3 x 2TB NVmE SSDs.
Then Piggybacked on Eagle5Pro with PLL Ringset:The Secondary Imaging: A ZenithStar2 61m x 360mm with a QHYMINICAM8 with integrated filter wheel ( LP/L/RGB/Ha/S2/O3) , DSD AF-3, for more widefield imaging.) But mostly for guiding the Primary Imaging system). Riding the centre line beneath the Tele-Vue NP101is is a QHY5III200M (for guiding secondary scope system), all run remotely/wirelessly by an Acer SwiftGO16,(Windows 11 Pro), mounted on a Starfield Big Pier Tripod. Dew control is by Kendrick Astro Dew Straps and controlled by PLL ECCO2.
Tele Vue Large Field Corrector (LCL-1069) × 1
Main operating/control programs: Windows 11 Pro, N.I.N.A., ( with, HocusFocus, Optimal Exposure Calculator, PlateSolver, Target Sequencer, Advanced Sequencer) Phd2, SharpCap Pro. Image processing, PixInsight and PhotoShop.
The MT3000AX Beryl GLI-NET is set up on top dovetail plate and is set up so Eagle5Pro is connected to It by short ethernet cable. The MT3000AX Beryl then connects to SwiftGO16 wirelessly. Imaging and Data is routed to 2 portable on-board NVmE SSD drives and 2 NVmE drives in the Eagle5Pro. CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD PFC Sinewave UPS System, 1500VA/1000W, 12 Outlets, AVR, Mini Tower, Black. RS20MAP Astron Regulated Power Supply. Antlia RGB Tri Band filter for QHY247C.
Operated on 2 LiFPo 1200 watt/hour batteries, modified to output pure 12.8v min, 23.8 max RS-20Mcontinuously. On A/C the system is hooked up to household A/C but conditioned and protected by Cyberpower CP1500PFCLCD to an Astron RS 20m for DC output of 13.8v.
JMI Heavy-Duty Medium Size Universal Wheeley Bar Telescope Dolly × 1. Wheel Size × 1
10" Pneumatic Tires.
Processing: Dell Alienware R14 Processor : AMD Ryzen 7 5800 8-Core Processor (3.40 GHz) Installed RAM 128 GB Graphics card NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti (12 GB)
The Star Shadows Remote Observatory was a chance to partner with 3 fabulous guys, Astro photographers, with a 16” RCOS Truss scope on a mountainside in New Mexico, USA. We spend many, many nights, running the scope remotely and most often connected by headphones and pioneering teleconferencing (Skype), CCD Chips as imagers and developing processing skills to squeeze out every last data point.. Very interesting, and really great guys. As an alumnus of SSRO, I follow them and watch how well they have done in image DSOs and added new equipment including another SSRO in Chile. Recently, I went over files from those days, that I had something to do with and reprocessed them. They appear in this website and each title reflects that credit.
Nicolas Outters
Also, a big shout-out to my long-time friend and mentor, Nicholas Outters. My re-entry into astrophotography would not have been easy, given the advances in technology and processing after a 15 year hiatus, without his guidance and support.
You can check Nico and his work out at https://www.jamesathibertstudios.ca/
Nico has been practicing astrophotography since 1999. He manages several observation sites in France, Morocco, and Chile. At home, in range, Northern France, heI usss two 400mm diameter Newtonian telescopes. In Morocco, at the Oukaïmaïden Observatory, with Alexandre Itic, Didier Plassard, Valère Perroud, and Elodie, we installed a 300mm F4 Newtonian telescope in June 2026. In Chile, I am a member of the Cielaustral association.