Zolt Levay is a legendary astrophotographer. For many years he served as the Principal Science Visuals Developer in the Office of Public Outreach at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. He produced images and other visuals from data provided by the Hubble Space Telescope to publicize science results from Hubble and other observatories. Zolt is perhaps best known for his images of the "Pillers of Creation" in the Eagle Nebula and, of course, the Hubble Deep Field.
Zolt spoke about his lifelong interest in astrophotography at this year's Indiana Family Star Party ( https://www.indianastars.com/starparty/ ), held at Camp Cullom near Frankfort, Indiana. He became interested in astronomy and photography at an early age and earned a bachelor’s degree (BS, Astrophysics, 1975) at Indiana University, Bloomington, and a master’s degree in astronomy at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He worked with several space science missions at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, before joining the Space Telescope Science Institute in 1983.
Zolt spoke of his personal and professional experiences, highlighting his post-retirement interest in landscape and nature photography. Particularly striking were images of the Milky Way over landscapes, reminiscent of the Hubble and JWST images of Eta Carina.
You can explore Zolt's portfolio at https://www.zoltlevay.com/. Enjoy!
The College of Arts