I'm currently an Astronomer (working for NASA) at Cornell University. I'm living my dream. My research is focused on studying planets around other stars. I live at the Boiceville Cottages near Ithaca with Veronica, my fiancee (she is a writer, poet, life-couch, activist, and karaoke-lover).

I love photography, traveling (50 US states, 56 countries, 6 continents), dancing, theatre, volunteering, classical music performances, biking, and movies. I'm a nerd, vegetarian, feminist, socialist, socially aware, and a huge environmental activist. I love new adventures and meeting new people. My life motto is, "The journey is the destination."

I'm originally from a small town in rural Colorado. Since high school, I lived in Tucson, Arizona (attended/worked at the University of Arizona) for 6 years, Charlottesville, Virginia for 5 years (PhD at University of Virginia), 2 years in Orleans, France, and now living in Ithaca, New York.

I started a project called 'Humans of this Pale Blue Dot'. I'm collecting stories from people I meet along my past and future travels. I'm also collecting stories from people I've only met online. I'd love for you to be part of this project :)

I love quotes!

"Life is amazing. And then it's awful. And then it's amazing again. And in between the amazing and the awful its ordinary and mundane and routine. Breathe in the amazing, hold on through the awful, and relax and exhale during the ordinary. That's just living heartbreaking, soul-healing, amazing, awful, ordinary life. And it's breathtakingly beautiful." LR Knost

Personal Social Media:
Instagram: jaketurnerphoto
Twitter: @Astro_journey

Pale Blue Dot:
Instagram: humans_of_pbd
Website: linktr.ee/humansofthispalebluedot

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

To meet new people, discover, and to travel. I'm always looking for new people to travel anywhere with. Find people for my new project Humans of this Pale Blue Dot'.

Trying to change the world:
"We change the world, one story at a time." Richard Wagamese

“We’re all stories, in the end. Just make it a good one, eh?” Doctor Who. So lets make a story.

"Traveling - it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller." Ibn Battuta

And this:
“Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.” Maya Angelou

Interests

Astronomy, photography, dancing, nature, life, universe, traveling, social justice, environmentalism, movies

• photography
• hiking
• astronomy
• nature
• environmentalism
• astrophotography

Music, Movies, and Books

TV shows: Doctor Who, Friends, Seinfeld, Big Bang Theory, Fringe.

Movies: Star Wars, Transformers, Matrix, Marvel movies. Love Sci-fi and action movies.

Books: His Dark Materials, Ender Series, Watchmen, The Road, Hunger Games, Artemis Fowl Series, Catch-22. I love reading and love anything by Dean Koontz and Robert Heinlein.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Living in France for two years. I've gone sky-diving. I've hiked up several 12,000 ft mountains. Hiking around the Austrian woods hunting chestnuts. Traveling 7000 miles to see a Total Solar Eclipse in the Grand Teton National Park.

Teach, Learn, Share

Learn: Everyone we meet has something to teach us about life and what it means to be human. Everyone has a story to tell.

Teach: Stargazing and astronomy

Share: My stories, travels, and my journey

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kosovo, Laos, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Mauritania, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Norway, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, San Marino, Scotland, Senegal, Serbia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, United States