Eighteen-year-old Jonah Scott is no ordinary country kid. He's an amazing amateur astronomer taking incredible pictures of space, like this.
Scott, an apprentice diesel fitter from Cecil Plains in Queensland, told BuzzFeed he has built five telescopes, his first when he was just 15 years old!
"There is so much unknown in space so I was kind of intrigued to know what kind of things were out there after seeing the amazing photos of it in books and stuff. I built my own telescope because I just love making things and also I didn't have the money to purchase one."
He uses spare parts he has on hand and buys whatever else he needs online or from astronomy shops. His first telescope was very much experimental.
"I pretty much just copied some pictures I had in a magazine and experimented until it worked. The later ones just got more and more refined as I learnt more from using them. Once I worked out the basic principle of how telescopes work, designing my own was pretty easy."
His homemade telescopes have allowed him to capture some incredible images of our galaxy. Like this beautiful closeup of Saturn...
... comets streaking through the sky...
... and The Milky Way in all its star-studded glory.
The sheer size of space is what ignites Scott's interest and his photos clearly show why.
"I love how the universe is so staggeringly massive that it blows your mind when you try to comprehend it. I love all the beautiful things out there as well. The night sky is really the window to space and the universe, and I reckon that's awesome."
Scott's currently working on his next project: capturing the Milky Way stretching over earth using a high altitude balloon in near space, which he's hoping will allow him to see even more.
"It is certainly the most challenging thing that I have ever attempted, and I can't wait to see how it goes in a few months when I launch."
And while Scott enjoys astronomy, it's not a career path he says he'll pursue.
"I don't think I will ever get into professional astronomy. But being an adventurous photographer, building my own equipment, traveling to extreme places and pushing the limits of my gear to capture the universe, I reckon that sound like fun. "
Whether or not Scott decides to go into astronomy full-time, we sure hope he keeps reaching for the stars!
