The Astro Wiz

Inspiration

The Astro Wiz draws inspiration from prior ISS and other celestial trackers that have room for improvement. Our goal was to rectify the shortcomings of existing trackers and provide users the chance to grasp the how and why of astronomical observations, while also supplying sufficient raw data to serve professionals.

What it does

The Astro Wiz takes a user's input for their city. It then retrieves the local weather conditions along with the ISS's current latitude and longitude, combining this data to assess whether the ISS will be visible. Additionally, the Astro Wiz gathers information about solar flares, recent geomagnetic activity, and possible interference with stargazing equipment.

How we built it

We developed this website by first collecting various APIs for weather, the ISS, solar flare data, and geomagnetic information. Then, we employed Python to fetch the data and used Flask to integrate our data values into our HTML code. We formatted the HTML and organized the website to convey our information clearly and efficiently, incorporating Python logic to adjust output messages based on weather, light levels, and ISS location.

Challenges we ran into

We encountered the challenge of integrating the GPS permission function with the rest of our code.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We take pride in consolidating our ideas into a unified proposal and enhancing the initial concept.

What we learned

We learned how to use APIs and JSON more efficiently, seamlessly integrating this data into HTML for web display.

What's next for The Astro Wiz

Looking ahead, we aim to incorporate additional celestial objects for viewing, such as constellations and planets, and to enhance the website's interactivity and appeal. We also envision sending email notifications when the ISS is overhead and conditions are favorable, along with forecasting capabilities to inform users of the anticipated next visibility of the ISS from their location.