Horizon Ate

https://galaxykaleidoscope.wixsite.com/horizonate

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1EAO6e2nBL8S9SnSeX5dFCWLlEv9yEMDAeofTru-GXzk/edit?usp=sharing

We are a group of high school students who are also intellectually curious learners fascinated by STEM and the arts. As we constructed our "Turn STEM into STEAM" project, we seized the resources available on the Internet and actively utilized them. For instance, to draw connections between STEM and STEAM, we used Wix to generate a website and titled it galaxy kaleidoscope to signal the luminosity filtering through the users’ world in the rainbow colors. The website uses minimal words to allow everyone and anyone to enjoy the new kaleidoscope of their home, with arrows that will guide users throughout the site and select regions with a click on an interactive map. On the homepage of our website, the downward arrow will take you to a world map with the galaxies and geographic features of several observed locations on Earth. To create the most immersive experience, we composed the website with illustrations and music, which people can access by clicking on the play button next to the geography subtitle. All soundtracks are open source in the public domain and selected to be associated with the AI-generated image on each web page. Moreover, we browsed astronomical photos from more than 80 countries on APOD from 2015 to 2022, and sought permission from the photographic artists for each of the 15 images corresponding to each geographic feature on our website. Furthermore, the Disco Diffusion application is the fundamental tool we used to generate our AI images. However, there are several setbacks while using the open source code. The code was not working exactly as we expected, therefore alterations of the code were necessary. Since the code change was accompanied by several bugs in the program, we took the time as a team to discuss the bugs we encountered and debugged all of them: 1. the device that runs the program must disconnect with the CPU in order for the code on section 4 to run appropriately; 2. the animation on section 5 should be banned because we aren’t animating any of the images we created; 3. the smaller the value for the display rate, the higher the resolution of the generated image; 4. changing the batch number will allow us to determine how many different images the generator will make based on the same prompt given. Together, the galaxy panorama and the AI painting (Disco Diffusion) clash into the diffusion of STEAM.

1. Astronomy picture of the day: Galaxy image sources
2. Earth As Art Project: Geographical location sources

Through the Space Apps experience, we collaborated on a website intended to promote the key connection between art and science, sparking interest in STEAM subjects among other students, including those in marginalized regions. With hopes to ultimately stride a light on our community and expand the scope of STEAM education. We enhanced our skills in computer programming, website building/design, copyright communication with photographers, and research for our website. We hope to cultivate the next generation of “STEAMists” and their passion for art and science disciplines—the means that have united us during this 2-day period. Like the development of our website, no singular mind is capable of constructing the grand scheme and fleshing out the details; each of us can only contribute our learnings and experiences to a portion of our final project, which belongs to posterity. There are two unique features in this project: AI image generator and music. We used python disco diffusion to develop paintings based on our prompts(poetic interpretations of the geography). However, we faced the challenge of altering the code to best fit the geography’s notion with problems such as runtime errors, type errors, and name errors. After careful research on the website, we realized that this program should connect to the google drive terminal without using the CPU. Finally, it works as we expected. The music feature was decided based on a library of non-copyright music, prompting us to listen to each one and match its geography according to its mood. Another challenge we faced was to contact all the photographers for their permission to include their images. We didn’t have enough time to obtain about twelve permissions in two days. 

Works cited:

Astronomy Picture of the Day Archive. NASA, apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html. 

     Accessed 1 Oct. 2022.

Belcher Islands. 21 Sept. 2001. USGS,                     

     d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/

     production/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/belcher-islan.jpg. Accessed 1 Oct.       

     2022.

Beletsky, Yuri. Milky Way with Airglow Australis. Astronomy Picture of the Day, 

     NASA, apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1509/airglow_lco_beletsky.jpg.

Chokshi, Aman. Little Planet South Pole. Astronomy Picture of the Day, NASA, 

     apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2208/Chokshi_DSC7584_Panorama.jpg.

Claro, Miguel. Rainbow Airglow over the Azores. Astronomy Picture of the Day, 

     NASA, apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2104/GravityWaves_Claro_1486.jpg.

Coy, Jordi. Andromeda over the Sahara Desert. Astronomy Picture of the Day, 

     NASA, apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2207/SaharaAndromeda_Coy_6135.jpg.

Dai, Jeff. North Celestial Tree. Astronomy Picture of the Day, NASA, 

     apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2207/AncientTreeNCP_Dai.jpg.

Duparc, Vincent. Meteors, Comet, and Big Dipper over La Palma. Astronomy 

Picture of the Day, NASA, 

apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1904/Quadrantids_Duparc_1830.jpg.

H/Mix Gallery. www.hmix.net/music_gallery/music_top.htm. Accessed 1 Oct. 2022.

Komlev, Anton. Firefly Milky Way over Russia. Astronomy Picture of the Day, 

     NASA, apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2109/FireFlyMilkyWay_Komlev_1446.jpg.

Lane, Dave. An Airglow Fan from Lake to Sky. Astronomy Picture of the Day, 

     apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1601/AirglowFan_Lane_2400.jpg.

NASA. Earthset from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Astronomy Picture of the 

     Day, NASA, apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1601/Earthrise_LRO_5634.jpg.

NASA. A Night at Poker Flat. Astronomy Picture of the Day, NASA, apod.nasa.gov/ 

     apod/image/1501/PFlatLaunch_compositeJan26_0.jpg.

NASA - Earth As Art. 22 Nov. 2012, www.nasa.gov/pdf/ 

     703154main_earth_art-ebook.pdf. Accessed 1 Oct. 2022.

Nathan, Eric. Star Trails above Table Mountain. Astronomy Picture of the Day, 

     NASA, apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1506/ 

     StarTrailsAboveTableMountain_Nathan.jpg.

Tafreshi, Babak. Milky Way over Uluru. Astronomy Picture of the Day, NASA, 

     apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1507/MWUluruTafreshi_MG_6685Ps.jpg.

Tafreshi, Babak. Night Hides the World. Astronomy Picture of the Day, NASA, 

apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1510/NightHidesTurkanaTafreshi.jpg.

Takasaka, Yuichi. Total Lunar Eclipse over Waterton Lake. Astronomy Picture of 

     the Day, NASA, apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1509/ 

     LunarEclipseWaterton_Takasaka_1200.jpg.

USGS. U.S. Department of the Interior, www.usgs.gov/. Accessed 1 Oct. 2022.

Woodend, James Boardman. Aurora over Icelandic Glacier. Astronomy Picture of 

the Day, NASA, apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1503/ 

AuroraGlacier_woodend_5760.jpg.

The World At Night (TWAN). twanight.org/. Accessed 1 Oct. 2022.

We would like to convey our heartfelt gratitude to the NASA researchers, generous photographers, our parents, and ourselves. Had it not been for those supports, we wouldn’t have elevated the confidence and dedication toward our work. 

#Website #Interative #Art #Galaxy #Earthscape #ScienceForAll # #Cybertraveling #ActualLivingScientist #SciArt #ScanAllStars