I built Night Sky, Literally...

Description and use

NightSky is a web app that lets users easily find and observe constellations, generate personalized observing plans, and record observations.

Problem

People lack motivation to observe the night sky and need an easy way to find constellations from their location.

Outcome

NightSky enables non‑experts to locate and observe constellations with minimal equipment, fostering outdoor engagement with astronomy.

Workflow

• Select a constellation from the catalogue
• Read its story, history, and finding tips
• Set location and time via the Sky guide
• Press "Plan to see it" to generate a 10/15/20‑minute observing plan
• Choose equipment (eyes, binoculars, telescope)
• Follow the plan in the real sky
• Record observations in the My observations tab

Evidence

NightSky lets you explore the sky and discover many constellations. Click a star pattern to read its story, a bit of its history, how to recognise it, and what else you might see nearby.

Source

The “Plan to see it” button in a description takes that constellation straight to the observing planner. You can choose a 10, 15, or 20-minute session and whether you're using your eyes, binoculars, or a telescope.

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OpenSource models, connected through ollama, generates personalised observing instructions using the calculated targets and selected equipment.

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For location related features, NightSky uses Open-Meteo for city lookup and SerpApi for finding nearby observatories and astronomy events

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