Space Feed

Infographic of Science Hack Day SF project:

 

Space Feed

 

 

 

A feed of awesome space events based on location.

 

 

 

Why the hack?

 

Current astronomy sites have complicated design or are overly technical for the casual observer. Typically lat/long is needed to figure out what is available in the night sky. Phones and browsers can take advantage of location and notification services to make the experience easy and passive for the user.

 

 

 

Visible with:

 

- Naked eye

 

- Binoculars

 

- Telescope

 

 

 

Specify distance:

 

- 5 miles, 15 miles, 25 miles, 50 miles, 100 miles etc.

 

 

 

Types of events:

 

- Meteor showers

 

- ISS flyover (transit, i.e. flying in front of the sun/moon)

 

- Other satellites

 

- Iridium flares

 

- Auras

 

- Planets

 

- Constellations

 

- What else is interesting? How do you take a data set and classify an astronomical event "interesting" without human input? Can you?

 

 

 

Visibility considerations:

 

- Weather

 

- Light pollution

 

 

 

Nice to Haves:

 

- Best viewing spots in your area based on weather/altitude/other factors

 

i.e. I am willing to travel X distance to see Y event. Return: "It's cloudy in San Francisco, go to Mt. Tam to see the Persieds meteor shower."

 

- Localize measurements based on location or OS language/format.

 

 

 

Technologies:

 

- Web based (ideal, open) OR

 

- iPhone app (more possibility? visibility/distribution?)

 

 

 

Data sets:

 

- ISS tracking data in web format - Created at London Science Hack day (XML file of ISS location): randomorbit.net/

 

- TLE data for all satellites - celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/master.asp

 

 

 

Hackers:

 

 

 

* Lindsay Eyink, @leyink - general idea

* Ben Ward, @benward -

* Paul Mison, @blech - space geek who has done this with OverLondon

* Ariel Waldman, @arielwaldman - general idea

Done