Oz Ramos

I'll be honest Nick, I'm not really sure what PI or AP stand for (AstroPhotography?). Can you tell I'm new to all this :p I'd definitely like to take a look at PI, although working out of the textbook helps me understand the what and whys...which is important considering how little know. --- Grant, that is an awesome idea! I was already planning on building a public API to allow people to create starcharts by appending their coordinates/object in the URL like: example.com/skychart.png?obj=M42 And by altering obj you get a new image. But using the IP is an even better idea

Take pictures! I've been thinking of doing the same thing as I'm finding it hard to squeeze in optical time (on the rare chance that it's clear). What software do/are you going to use to collect the data?

haha I get paid in beer sometimes too, creativity definitely goes up :) but so do bugs :( Sounds really interesting I'd love to give it a try. Why are you building drivers, are you interfacing with something?

Thanks Grant! Yes, the browser is in fact the main reason I chose javascript as it means it will work both on your desktop and mobile device - indoors or out - without requiring any downloads. While I won't be able to achieve the beautiful visuals of other desktop based planetariums (Stellarium etc), the fact that it's online by default means that it is instantly accessible to 100% of people online vs only people with enough interest/privileges to download and install the software.

Because I currently can't afford school (and am on academic probation anyways), I'm building an open-sourced, social planetarium to help me learn as much as possible. It's called SKY @ Lab of Oz (where I'm building other mini-apps, for math, physics, and the sciences in general). The project will, when completed, have: 2D, printable skycharts 3D planetarium (like Stellarium) Lunar calendar Weather forecast "To-View" lists Calendars Personal Catalogues Friends/Groups Social Astrophotography Stack images Flipping (for object finding/tracking) Image generators (upload image and add date, scope, details etc to it for download) Add your image to the 3D planetarium, which people can see when they zoom in to an object/section of the sky [*]Stitching module (stitch together multiple images) Because the highest level of math I've completed in school was Algebra, I'm using a book called "Astronomy for the Personal Computer" to help guide me in the right direction. And while the text gives examples in C++, I'm porting what I learn into Javascript. You can keep up to date by following/forking my Ephemerides Library on GitHub (not much there yet :p ) The first demo I posted, today, is a simple conversion tool that will allow me to convert between decimal and degree angles. You can play around with it in SKY Lab. Anyways, the blog posts I'll be posting here on SGL will be far less code-oriented and more focused on the astronomy. Thanks for reading! This was the "introductory/about" post, so the next one will be more interesting :p