FEATURED PROJECT
Starry Atlantic Pleiades
An astrophotography website combining interactive planning tools, educational resources, field notes, and a public-facing observatory experience.
THE PROJECT
Turning an astrophotography website into an interactive experience.
Starry Atlantic Pleiades began as an astrophotography-focused website and grew into a broader observatory experience combining photography, educational content, field notes, and interactive planning tools.
The site includes tools for planning observing and imaging sessions, exploring potential targets, evaluating equipment and field of view, accessing educational resources, and interacting with a production website backed by server-side services and third-party integrations.
DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT
THE CHALLENGE
Make complex planning information useful.
Astrophotography planning involves location, sky conditions, celestial targets, equipment, framing, timing, and other variables. Presenting that information without overwhelming the user required turning technical data into focused planning experiences.
THE APPROACH
Build tools around real observing decisions.
Rather than presenting astronomy data in isolation, the site organizes tools around practical questions: what to photograph, when conditions are favorable, how a target fits the equipment, and what information is useful before heading into the field.
WHAT I BUILT
A website that does more than display content.
The project combines a public-facing visual experience with interactive planning features, external services, server-side functionality, and production infrastructure.
Astrophotography Planning
Interactive tools for exploring targets, planning observing sessions, evaluating conditions, and preparing for imaging in the field.
Field-of-View Tools
Equipment-aware planning experiences that help visualize how celestial targets relate to cameras, lenses, and imaging configurations.
Content & Commerce
Educational resources, astrophotography field notes, galleries, and commerce-oriented experiences integrated into one cohesive website.
Production Infrastructure
Cloudflare deployment, server-side APIs, email delivery, domain configuration, and integrations that support the live website.
IN ACTION
Explore the observatory.
A short walkthrough of the website, planning dashboard, astrophotography tools, and educational experience.
Starry Atlantic Pleiades walkthrough
WHAT I LEARNED
A website can become a software product.
Starry Atlantic Pleiades taught me how quickly a traditional website can evolve once interactive tools, external services, server-side functionality, and real user workflows are introduced.
Building and operating the site has given me experience connecting frontend design with APIs, deployment infrastructure, domain and DNS configuration, email delivery, testing, and the ongoing maintenance required by a live production project.