Last updated: May 17th, 2023
At the heart of our journey lies a story of connection amidst distance. During my deployments, my wife and I found solace in the Moon and stars, knowing that regardless of our physical separation, we could gaze upon the same celestial wonders. From traversing thousands of miles across Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Republic of Georgia, I experienced the darkest night skies during convoy operations.
After being stationed in bright Las Vegas and cloudy Germany, we were finally stationed in Arizona—a place where the night sky truly revealed its breathtaking wonders to us. It was there, in 2019, that we embarked on our astrophotography journey by purchasing our very first telescope: a small tabletop Orion Starblast 4.5. Our family would gather on our driveway, laying down mats under the starry canvas above. With each of us taking turns peering through the eyepiece, my wife would navigate the telescope. We would spend hours hopping from one target to the next. It was through this telescope that we experienced the awe-inspiring sight of Saturn’s rings for the first time—a moment that ignited our passion and set us on an extraordinary path.
Soon, we acquired a cell phone holder adapter, enabling us to capture breathtaking images through our telescope. A mere 3-5 second exposure of the Orion Nebula convinced us to dive headfirst into the world of astrophotography. The disparity between live observation and the additional colors and details revealed by a few seconds on a cell phone camera hooked us instantly. We couldn’t help but wonder: What more could we capture with a better camera? What details would longer exposures reveal? Fueling our curiosity, we immersed ourselves fully in this captivating hobby. In December 2020, we acquired a used Celestron CPC 1100, affectionately named “Adama,” upgraded to an equatorial mount for longer exposures, obtained a T-Ring to attach our used Nikon DSLR, and never looked back.
Jojo (J1) is our oldest daughter. She plays violin and was the President of her school’s astronomy club. Jojo helps with the processing of our images. Currently, she favors a one-shot color camera and Photoshop unlike me, who uses a monochrome camera and PixInsight for most of my processing. She possesses an adventurous spirit, delving into various activities such as drawing, longboarding, gardening, welding, and exploring different realms of science fiction through shows & movies like Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, The Expanse, and Serenity. Finally, she is a proud member of an all-women astrophotography group called STELA. You can find their Instagram by clicking here.
Jayden (J2) is active in her Student Council, an exceptional student, and a dedicated athlete, specializing in softball as a catcher for her year-round travel team. She is currently learning photography with her used Canon EOS 60D DSLR. Her passion lies in capturing lunar, landscape, and nightscape images which she contributes to 3SistersAstronomy. Just like Jojo, she is a member of STELA. You can follow her photography journey on Instagram by click here -> J2Photography27.
Jaklyn (J3) is the baby of the family. She loves fashion, professional wrestling, and Jiu-Jitsu. She’s our toughest kid. Jaklyn loves gazing at the night sky and constantly surprises us with insightful questions about our equipment and astronomy. She loves the social media aspect of 3SistersAstronomy and hopes to help with our YouTube channel in the future.
Jessica (Mom) is the heart of our family and one of the admins for 3SistersAstronomy. She has always had a deep appreciation for the night sky. As our navigator, she helps locate targets using the constellations when observing and knows fun facts about them. Mom also helps with setting up all the equipment and is one of the only members of the family that can manually polar align (haha). Her presence brings a wonderful balance to our family dynamic, combining her book smarts with my practicality. Mom’s unwavering support and immense contributions make her an integral part of everything related to 3SistersAstronomy.
I, Joey (Dad), am the head admin of 3SistersAstronomy. I love sci-fi movies and TV shows such as Battlestar Galactica, Firefly, Ex Machina, The Expanse, Dark Matter, and Guardians of the Galaxy. I hope to inspire others to look up with community outreach and our family’s work through 3SistersAstronomy.
Be sure to follow our family adventures on Instagram. This is the platform that we are currently the most active on. Link below!
