Astronomy, and programming, and kids
A friend bookmarked this site on del.icio.us, which is the homepage for an astronomy library for Python called PyEphem. I’ve been toying with a new project idea since January when I took my kids to the New York Hall of Science in Queens. One of the displays was an interactive computer program that teaches you about where to find life in the galaxy. It was kind of a treasure hunt. While the program was a bit shallow for me, it provided a lot of entertainment for my oldest son.
I played with the idea of writing something myself. Long ago, I bought a book called Astronomical Algorithms by Jean Meeus. I believe this is jean Meeus’ second work on the subject, the first being a book on astronomical algorithms on a pocket calculator. Man that sounds painful.
Anyway, the program I’d like to start and not finish (he, he) would be similar in concept to the NYHoS version, but with a bit more depth and perhaps some real astrometric data. I would either need a library like PyEphem or I’d need to read Jean Meeus’ book very carefully.
I doubt I’d write anything like this in Python, but who knows…