Joseph DePasquale - CSCI E-3 Final Project

My final project uses JavaScript to read from a JSON-formatted database of the Chandra X-ray Observatory's press releases to serve up a random press release upon page load. The code also uses the WorldWide Telescope API to show the location of the object on the sky. Further options include a button that loads a new random release, and a link that expands the search options to include name based and filtering searches as well as a sort by date option. In the expanded search page, all of the available press releases are visible in a table format that updates dynamically based on search/filter/sort criteria. I used list.js to provide the heavy lifting for creating the searchable/sortable list from the JSON data. The list window is scrollable and any press release in the list can be clicked to load it into the main window and see its contextual location on the sky in the WWT portal. The page also makes use of spin.js to give a visual indication that the page is loading. More extensive notes on the project are available here.

Explore the X-ray Universe - Chandra Press Releases in Context

Click "Surprise Me!" to load a random press release below. Content of the release is displayed on the right, while a contextual view on the optical sky is provided in the portal on the left via WorldWide Telescope. The thumbnail image is a link that takes you to the original Chandra X-ray Observatory press release web page. Click "more options" to search through all of the available press releases. When you find an object you like, click on it in the table and it will be loaded into the viewer.