This widget is for beginning telescope tracking hobbyists. It displays basic viewing targets such as bright satellites, planets, and constellation locations.

Through researching this project I have come across many websites, in particular, www.heavens-above.com, which gives very comprehensive data, but to the novice, can seem confusing and overwhelming. On the other end of the spectrum, I have found many widgets that provide a simple service, such as illustrating only moon phases or only weather data.

This widget will be useful to any beginning hobbyist out in the field. It will also function to link to a local community of other hobbyists to discuss observations and keep a journal of their experiences.

To the left is a mock-up of the proposed widget. Futher functionality will include the ability to toggle between views (frequently updated sky charts and less-frequently updated satellite charts for the user's area), location selection, an alert for when the community blogging/journal site has been updated and a link to that site, night vision mode filter toggle so that the viewer's vision won't be obscured by the light from their laptop. Also, by selecting key words and abbreviations, one may pull up further information or explanations as to their use or meaning.

will be pulling data primarily from www.heavens-above.com for the charts and tables, and from www.almanac.com (Old Farmer's Almanac) for the weather data and moon phases.