Jed,
As someone experienced with working at these kinds of temperatures in
the glass industry, it was obvious that the temperature shown in the
image is way below the reported operating temperature.
I don't know whether this is because it was warming up, or because many
consumer cameras don't show red hot things correctly.
I am now somewhat dated, but I would have used a type S platinum
thermocouple, at the reported temperature, for the reactor control and
would have reported that reading as a useful check against the IR
reading. I also wonder what they used for the heating element as
that would have to be good for 1500C
