THE OBSERVER
By
@lakshay99_b
- 5 Devlogs
- 3 Total hours
im gonna fetch all nasa's data mwahaha...
16m logged
Spent some time cleaning up the top part of the page.
Moved the search bar under the clock so it sits more like a normal new tab page. Made it wider too. Before it was stuck on the side and felt a bit awkward.
Also shifted the GitHub / Stardance / YouTube buttons below the search bar and added simple icons to them. Looks cleaner now.
Tried adding a space background image. First one I picked was too bright and made the text hard to read, so I darkened it with an overlay. It’s better now but I might still change the image later if I find a nicer one.
Notes and name still save properly. APOD and ISS are working.
Not a huge update, just small things that were bothering me. Feels a bit more usable now.
Ship #1
Changes requested
I finally shipped THE OBSERVER 🚀
I built The Observer as an astronomy-focused new-tab dashboard that turns a normal browser tab into a small digital observatory. I wanted it to feel alive, so I connected it with real space data like NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day, the ISS position, people currently in space, and upcoming launches. I also built the animated starfield, solar-system visualization, bookmarks, field notes, search, settings, and the rest of the interface myself using HTML, CSS and vanilla JavaScript.
The most challenging part was getting all the different pieces to work together reliably. Working with multiple APIs, handling asynchronous data, dealing with loading/error states, creating the Canvas animations, and making the layout work across screen sizes taught me a lot more than I expected.
I’m especially proud of the fact that this isn’t a one-click AI-generated website or a template that I simply customized. I spent the time designing the UI, writing the code, connecting the APIs, debugging things that broke, and iterating until it became something I was actually happy to ship.
If you’re reviewing/testing it: open the deployed site and give it a moment to load the live data. Try the NASA picture, ISS tracker, people-in-space section, upcoming launch countdown, planet cards, search, bookmarks, settings, and Field Notes. You can also refresh the page to check that your saved settings and notes persist.
This is the version I’m submitting for review, but I don’t consider it the end of The Observer. There are still plenty of things I’d love to improve and add.
Thanks for checking out my project. 🌌
— Lakshay
25m 51s logged
JUST PLAYING THE FINAL CARD
this is devlog#5 and now i am happy that this is finally at the stage of completenes.
22m 56s logged
devlog#3
this might be going to be my last devlog for my this project.
I FINALLY ADDED A VIDEO FETCHER FOR NASA’S VIDEO
ADD IT IS ALMOST COMPLETE.
FEATURES
-search for anything
-real time, date
-nasa’s images and videoes
-iss position tracker
-launch tracker
-name of humans currently in orbit
although i know i was posting very less devlogs, but actually i am so stuck in code that i don’t remeber to do this.
25m 5s logged
The Observer — Bringing the Solar System to Life 🌌The Observer is starting to feel like an actual space exploration tool.In this build, I’ve been working on the interactive solar-system visualization, where planets are displayed with their connections and can be explored to reveal information about them.The current version includes:🪐 Interactive planet visualization⭐ Animated background stars🌍 Planet information such as radius, gravity, mass and moons🛰️ Live ISS position data📍 ISS latitude, longitude, altitude and velocity💻 A completely browser-based interfaceThis screenshot is also a good reminder that development isn’t always clean 😅 — while building the star-field animation and resizing system, I ran into a JavaScript error in the console. I’m currently debugging it and improving the system so the visualization remains stable across different screen sizes.The goal for The Observer isn’t just to make something that looks like space.I want to turn it into a small interactive window into our actual universe — combining real astronomical data, visualization and exploration in one place.Still building. 🚀
#Stardance #HackClub #TheObserver #WebDevelopment #JavaScript #Space #Astronomy #BuildInPublic
1h 7m 38s logged
this is my devlog#1
i today worked for nearly an hour messing with code and output. Currently the output in not attractive but i am just trying to improve it.
