High-Level Project Summary
Almost all the people who lived and live on Earth watched the night sky and admired the beauty of the stars. Every day we see the same image there, so there is an understanding that the sky does not change. Not so. Stars are the same objects that originate, experience chemical and nuclear energies, move, orbit, change colors, and die. The goal of our team is to create a visualizer of stars, and this will help people understand how stars change depending on certain parameters, and how dynamic the night sky is. In this way, the level of people's understanding of basic astronomical principles will increase, which will also serve to raise the level of people's education.
Link to Final Project
Link to Project "Demo"
Detailed Project Description
Background
The starry sky is one of the most beautiful riddles that interest children and adults, astrophysicists, and amateurs. Looking at them, hundreds of questions arise. Which star is bigger? Why are some stars white and some reddish? Why do they flicker sometimes? Are they moving? If they move, why don't we notice it? In addition, there is a false opinion among the population that the stars are static since almost the same scenario is observed every night.
Many encyclopedias and scientific articles explain all these phenomena and answer questions. But there is a problem that the majority of the population who are not specialists simply will not read it all. This will require an understanding of many astronomical terms, and complex formulas, and a huge amount of time to think about and understand it all. The majority of the population simply does not understand these terms and formulas and will not want to read too long articles for the sake of mere interest.
It is difficult and almost impossible to understand and explain astronomy and the dynamics of celestial objects, especially complicated stars. Therefore, we need to combine all these terms, formulas, and images that we have and receive as resources from NASA. This result should be clear and visible to the simple eye and interesting for any age. Thus, the public will understand how the stars and their dynamics work without losing interest in them, as happens in the case of ordinary articles and books.
Importance of our project
Science is developing at an insane rate in all areas, the general knowledge of the population is increasing even if not year after year, then over decades. People now occupy their position and have reached this level of quality and long life due to the development and understanding of different areas. Astronomy is one of them. Therefore, to increase interest and the understanding of people in this area is very important. Our project aims at one specific and very important part - the dynamics and life cycle of stars. We treat the visualizer as the main part of the project, which will be visible to the general public and much more understandable and interactive than alternative ways of understanding and exploring this area. This will be another step towards development.
The solution to our problem
The problem has already been discussed and has become clear. Now, the first step is to understand why people still do not understand this, since there are so many resources. This also became clear - due to non-interactive or outdated solution methods. So our solution should be more interactive and catch attention. What's the best way to remember and generate interest? Of course, vision - that is, a person must see it. The stars are too far away, and numerous telescopes, be they very accurate and massive, like Hubble or James Webb, will not be able to show all this so accurately and cannot be simulated and studied in this way. Therefore, we create a visualizer - a simulator of stars using the program. A person using the simulator can enter different star parameters like temperature, luminosity, radius, distance, composition, speed and mass. The simulator then shows the star with these parameters, which changes the color, size, type, defined orbit, path, and conic sections of the star. Thus, a person will really see and understand which parameters are responsible for what and how changes actually occur. This is the first way to use the program - to create your own star and change the parameters by manipulating them. The second way is to enter the name of the star into the search engine, then the program shows the result, as in a first way. In this case, a person will see the real appearance, movements, and properties of an existing star. In this case, some parameters cannot be changed, since they are constants in real life.
Space Agency Data
https://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/science/toolbox/timing1.html
https://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/science/objects/cataclysmic_variables.html
Hackathon Journey
NASA Hackathon is firstly a great opportunity for the youth of Uzbekistan interested in astronomy, physics, chemistry and technology. Uzbekistan is taking its first steps towards a more in-depth development of astronomy and astronautics. And NASA Hackathon is one of those steps. In order to participate and offer our solutions to existing problems, we were able to participate in a real project. We have assembled a team, each member of which has a certain skill and knowledge, got to know each other's strengths and weaknesses more and understood which side of ourselves to work on more and give more effort for development. These 2 days we devoted ourselves to space, technology and the team. In addition to our team, we got to know and made friends with other participants interested in solving global problems, in astronomy and the exact sciences. We understood how to work with certain resources, in particular NASA resources and the creation of simulators.
References
Aerostudents. (n.d.). Astrodynamics. http://www.aerostudents.com/courses/astrodynamics/AstrodynamicsSummary.pdf Astrodynamics. (n.d.). Wikibooks. https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Astrodynamics/Orbit_Basics Easycalculation. (n.d.). Astrodynamics. https://www.easycalculation.com/formulas/astrodynamics.html Education of astronomy in Finland. (n.d.). Astro4edu. https://www.astro4edu.org/media/documents/Astronomy_Education_In_Finland_2020.pdf The essence of astronomy. (n.d.). New York, London, G.P. Putnam’s sons. https://archive.org/details/essenceofastrono00putnrich/page/n15/mode/2up Facebook - Meld je aan of registreer je. (n.d.). [Video]. Facebook. Retrieved October 2, 2022, from https://www.facebook.com/unsupportedbrowser The motion of two million stars. (2017, April 13). [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved October 2, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87lgSRVUSxM Night sky. (n.d.). Unsplash.com. https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1528818955841-a7f1425131b5?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&ixid=MnwxMjA3fDB8MHxzZWFyY2h8M3x8c3RhcnJ5JTIwc2t5fGVufDB8fDB8fA%3D%3D&w=1000&q=80 Red star and blue star. (n.d.). Static Flickr.com. https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/639/33110882486_a52344a7ab_o.jpg Sohn, R. (2022, July 11). NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope will change the way we see our solar system. Space.com. Retrieved October 2, 2022, from https://www.space.com/james-webb-space-telescope-reveal-solar-system STARS - VIEW THROUGH A TELESCOPE at high magnification. Real shooting! Subtitles translation. (2022, March 15). [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved October 2, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlPiS-v5nmI Stars through a telescope 3. (2021, September 9). [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved October 2, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biHNvb4nEOY&feature=youtu.be Variables: What Are They and Why Observe Them?? (n.d.). AAVSO. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.aavso.org/variables-what-are-they-why-observe-them%23:~:text%3DVariable%2520stars%2520are%2520stars%2520that,the%2520type%2520of%2520variable%2520star.&ved=2ahUKEwjw8JPN9sD6AhXssIsKHX1TD1QQFnoECAUQBQ&usg=AOvVaw2McC2khrvmSNohPpO0nITS
Tags
#stellar_dynamics