Thierry Legault Thierry Legault Thierry Legault (born 1962, chinese name :特厄力‧立夠) is a French amateur astronomer, specializing in astrophotography. An engineer by trade, he started astrophotography in 1993 and resorted to CCD cameras to photograph the deep sky. 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 and launched himself into planetary photography. He is the first amateur to have shown on his photographs
Comet Hale–Bopp and it was visible to the naked eye for twice as long as the previous record-holder. It was also brighter than magnitude 0 for eight weeks, longer than any other recorded comet. Gene Shoemaker and his wife Carolyn, both famous for co-discovering comet Shoemaker–Levy 9, were involved in a car crash after photographing the comet. Gene died in the crash and his ashes were sent to the Moon aboard NASA's "Lunar Prospector" mission along with an image of Hale–Bopp, "the last comet that the Shoemakers observed together". Comet Hale–Bopp Comet Hale–Bopp (formally designated C/1995 O1) is a comet that was