live · 2026
Asterisms
A constellation-learning game that grew into a real-sky explorer: Daily and Practice puzzles, location-aware Tonight stargazing, Seek for skies from 1900 to now, and Guided Find — all built on real astronomy catalogue data.
What it does
A data pipeline covers 88 IAU constellations and 74 Western asterisms across 9,036 real cataloged stars, projected with gnomonic, RA-wraparound-safe math. The same sky engine powers Daily, Practice, location-aware Tonight, Seek (1900 to now), and Guided Find. Neon Postgres via Drizzle handles only puzzle scheduling and leaderboard state — if Neon is unreachable, the leaderboard degrades, the game never does. The landing hero renders real Solar System planet/Moon positions for the day via `astronomy-engine`, with optional ambient sound.
Why I built it
Most 'space' web experiences use stars as decoration. I wanted the stars to be real — real catalogue positions, real projections — and to build a small daily ritual around learning to actually see the sky.
Technical problem
Turning a star catalogue into something playable means real astronomical projection math (RA/Dec to screen space, wraparound-safe), a data pipeline for constellation and asterism boundaries, and deterministic daily puzzle generation so everyone gets the same sky on the same day.
My contribution
Sole builder — data pipeline, gameplay, sky engine, and frontend.
Evidence and limitations
Repository is private; catalogue figures (88 constellations, 74 asterisms, 9,036 stars) and stack are confirmed from the repo's own README and package.json. Live site checked and confirmed working at asterisms.space.
Technologies
Next.js, TypeScript, Neon / Postgres, Drizzle ORM, PostHog, Web Audio API, astronomical projections
126 visitors — as of 2026-10-08. humans only; cumulative tracked usage since 2026-08-25, bots and owner's test accounts excluded. PostHog snapshot, as of 2026-10-08. Source: https://github.com/mukndd/mukndd/blob/master/stats/data.json
42 engaged — as of 2026-10-08. played or explored; cumulative tracked usage since 2026-08-25, bots and owner's test accounts excluded. PostHog snapshot, as of 2026-10-08. Source: https://github.com/mukndd/mukndd/blob/master/stats/data.json
11 countries — as of 2026-10-08. visitor locations; cumulative tracked usage since 2026-08-25, bots and owner's test accounts excluded. PostHog snapshot, as of 2026-10-08. Source: https://github.com/mukndd/mukndd/blob/master/stats/data.json
88 IAU constellations catalogued — as of 2026-09-14. Source: Asterisms repository README / package.json (data pipeline coverage)
9,036 real cataloged stars — as of 2026-09-14. Source: Asterisms repository README / package.json (data pipeline coverage)
