StarDaze

Inspiration

One of my friends is deeply passionate about astronomy, and I’ve always found it fascinating, too. Yet, the vastness of space and the complexity of it all felt overwhelming. I didn’t know much about constellations or where to find them, and I knew stars had different life stages but didn’t understand their distances from the Sun. Even stargazing felt challenging—where would I go for the best view? I’d heard that factors like light pollution could affect visibility, but I wasn’t sure how to navigate them.

Astronomy seemed intimidating, so we’ve worked to make it a more welcoming hobby. By gathering essential information in one place and making it engaging and easy to understand, we aim to remove the barriers that keep people from exploring the wonders of space. Our goal is to make the awe and joy of discovering the cosmos accessible to everyone.

What it does

StarDaze features an interactive celestial map, immersing users in a 3D view of stars and constellations, positioned as they would appear from their actual location using geocoordinates. This lets users explore their favorite stars and constellations in a realistic simulation of the night sky. Additionally StarDaze displays ideal stargazing spots within a 50-mile radius of the user’s location, helping them find the best nearby places to experience the night sky.

How we built it

Stardaze was developed using React, d3.js, Vite, and Node.js, with MongoDB as the database. For external data, the team integrated Mapbox and OpenWeather APIs, and they used Claude to generate constellation data for the star map.

Challenges we ran into

Our team encountered challenges with MongoDB, as none of us had prior experience with it. Although two team members focused on it from the beginning to the end, we couldn’t successfully implement it. We also struggled to find light pollution data in a compatible format, so we attempted to calculate our own. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get it functioning in production.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

The team is proud of the website's visually appealing and inviting UI and is pleased with the outcome of the celestial map. Additionally, they have successfully presigned 24 users, marking an exciting start for the platform.

What we learned

Our team gained valuable experience with MongoDB, even though we couldn’t fully integrate it with all the features we envisioned. Two of our members also had their first exposure to React and JavaScript, learning a great deal along the way. Additionally, we discovered just how powerful d3.js can be and explored many of its capabilities.

What's next for StarDaze

We plan to add more gamification elements to Stardaze, including a badge and point system to enhance user engagement. Additionally, we aim to complete some unfinished features, like the light pollution index, which will assign a light pollution score to different areas. Enhancing interaction with our database is also a priority to improve the overall functionality and user experience. We would also like to add additional features such as a location finder of the International Space Station and a countdown to any comets and asteroids.

Built With

Submitted to

HackNC 2024

Created by

In developing the StarGazing app, I developed the backend and database. I deployed a cluster using MongoDB Atlas to serve as our database. I then used Express to handle server requests, essentially creating a backend API using Express and MongoDB that our React front end can work with. We plan to integrate this database functionality into our project stack in the future.

Adith Venkatesh
I contributed to integrating weather data and calculating light pollution. However, due to the time-intensive nature of these calculations, we could not implement them within the expected timeframe.

Kento Hopkins
I created the celestial map where the users could view the stars and I also led user acquisition where I got us 24 members presigned

Adithya Chakka
In developing the stargazing app, I worked on the backend of the interactive map. My primary contribution was designing an engaging, user-friendly interface that seamlessly connects users to an interactive stargazing experience through the Mapbox API. I implemented the Nebula Navigator feature which allows users to view stargazing location on an intuitive map. My goal was to make a functional map, with the aim of sparking a sense of wonder and exploration as users navigate the best places to explore dark sky places.

aryamankachroo Kachroo
In developing the stargazing app, I worked on the frontend and visualization of the stargazing app. My primary contribution was to implement proper scale and successfully router other components of the website so that when clicked on the button links, it would redirect to its specific page. My partner Agam and I also implemented logos to show our team and the way to connect with us as a Team, for instance: Linktree to show our Linkedins. Some processes were tough to understand yet we used the best of our knowledge to implement every proper scale and make the visuals look aesthetically appealing.

Soumil Kothari
I collaborated with a talented team to enhance our skills in React. I developed key features, which significantly improved user experience. Additionally, I identified and fixed bugs which contributed to smoother functionality. I also created/refactored different CSS files and implemented React router Dom, ensuring seamless integration with the overall project. I updated the documentation in the README.md to facilitate onboarding for new developers. This experience allowed us to build an engaging application and fostered collaboration and best coding practices within our team. I'm proud to be part of this project and look forward to contributing to more open-source endeavors in the future!

Agampreet Bajaj
Sagnik Saha
Computer Science student @ NCSU