About DeLong’s Observatory

My dad showed me the stars. Now I’m showing my daughters. Who will you show?

I’m Andrew. I’m 33 years old, a husband, and a father of two incredible girls - Willow my oldest, who’s obsessed with space, and Juniper, who’s just beginning to discover the wonder of the world around her.

I grew up between Washington and Oregon, spending summers with my dad who had a way of making the universe feel personal. On clear nights he’d take me outside and point up. We watched the Perseids streak across the sky. We learned constellation names. We asked big questions that had no easy answers. Those moments shaped me more than I realized at the time.

For years I carried that wonder quietly. I’d step outside on a dark night, look up at the Big Dipper or Orion’s Belt, or Jupiter burning bright, and feel something I couldn’t quite name. A mix of humility and inspiration. A reminder that we are “specks on a speck on a speck” - and somehow that makes life feel more precious, not less.

DeLong’s Observatory was born from that feeling.

This is not a business built by a scientist or a professional astronomer. I’m just a regular person with a camera, a backyard in the Pacific Northwest, and a deep hunger to share what the night sky does to the human soul. I’m learning in real time. I’m making mistakes. I’m figuring it out one clear night at a time.

But here’s what I know for certain - curiosity about the universe should not belong only to scientists and academics. It belongs to kids in classrooms who have never been shown a constellation. It belongs to that Dad that looks up at night and wonders if he’s enough. It belongs to parents who want to give their children something that no screen can replicate. It belongs to anyone who has ever stood outside at night and felt that inexplicable pull towards the stars.

My daughter Willow sees the world differently than most - and watching her light up when she talks about planets and stars reminds me every single day why this matters. I want to build something she can grow into. Something we can share. Something that hopefully outlasts both of us.

That’s DeLong’s Observatory. A place - digital and someday physical - where curiosity is celebrated, wonder is welcomed, and everybody is invited to look up.

I’m just getting started. And I'm glad you’re here.

—Andrew DeLong