Experiment 01 / Astronomy
A little
observatory.
An interactive sky map, made from a question that started with a photograph.
Ready when you are
Start with a manual view. Location, compass, and camera access are optional and requested only when you choose those controls.
Find your way around.
The map projects a bundled catalog of bright stars for a place and a time. Drag to look around; use the reset control to return to your starting view. On desktop, the scroll wheel changes the field of view.
The location control updates the view to your position. On a supported phone, the compass can help orient the map, and an optional camera overlay puts the display over a live view. The camera feed stays in your browser.
A guide, with some limits.
Without location permission, the map starts from a clearly marked New York reference position. Phone orientation can drift, and the catalog contains selected bright stars rather than every point of light. This is a sky explorer, not a verified identification overlay on the photograph above.
The interesting part for me is the connection: a photograph, a catalog of measurements, a little geometry, and something you can move around with your hands.