Cremation releases energy from the body as heat, some of which radiates as infrared. For burials, the journey can begin with a candle lit at the service.
SebTrack uses your date of cremation or burial to calculate the distance your loved one’s energy has travelled. Allowing you to track their journey through the cosmos and feel connected.
I hope it brings you some peace.
Part of A Universe of Energy. A private option is always yours.
The science behind the connectionAlways connected
A note from Rick
Watching a talk by Neil deGrasse Tyson changed the way I thought about losing my son, Sebastian (Seb).
The idea that stayed with me was that energy does not simply disappear. During cremation, chemical energy becomes heat, and infrared radiation is emitted that can carry energy into space.
Realising that the energy that had been part of Seb hadn’t simply disappeared helped me feel connected to him in a different way. It was still part of the universe. I found comfort in that.
That thought became the inspiration for SebTrack. I wanted to create a place where we could remember someone we love, explore that science through a journey in their name, and feel a little closer whenever we miss them.
A special thank you to the midwives at the Royal Bolton Hospital. Your care and kindness will always be part of Seb’s story, and we will never forget it.
RickSeb’s dad and founder of SebTrack
During cremation, combustion releases chemical energy stored in the body’s molecules as heat. Hot matter radiates some of that energy as infrared. Some infrared escapes into space. Some is absorbed by surrounding materials and the atmosphere, transferring energy before further radiation is emitted.
Cremation transforms chemical energy through combustion. This contributes to heat in the body and surroundings, which emit infrared radiation. The crematorium’s fuel also supplies energy, so the emitted radiation has several sources.
Choose the cremation date as the start of the calculation. Because no time is entered, we use midday in your device’s timezone, or the current time if it is earlier today.
A real candle releases chemical energy from its fuel as heat and radiation, including infrared. For someone who was buried, you can begin a journey from a candle lit in their memory. The candle’s energy comes from its fuel, rather than the person’s body.
Choose the date and place where the real candle was lit. Candles left on a SebTrack page are digital tributes; they do not emit the infrared used in this calculation or start another journey.
Infrared travels through a vacuum at exactly 299,792.458 kilometres per second, about 186,282 miles per second. We multiply that speed by the number of seconds since the start date and assumed time.
This gives a distance for uninterrupted infrared travel. It does not calculate how much energy was emitted or account for absorption and later re-emission.
The counter assumes uninterrupted travel from the chosen start. It does not measure radiation or establish how much of a person’s energy reached space, when it escaped or where it is now. Some infrared escapes into space. Some is absorbed by surrounding materials and the atmosphere, transferring energy before further radiation is emitted.
Infrared is invisible to our eyes. The glow on SebTrack makes the calculation visible. Energy radiates in many directions; the displayed trail is a way to explore the distance, with a chosen starting place and a scale that fits your screen.
Explore the science: OpenStax: chemical energy and heatBIPM: the speed of lightNASA: infrared radiationNASA: radiation and matterNASA: how energy escapes to space
Their name. Their stories. A connection to return to.
Tell us about your loved one first, then create an account before publishing their space.
Explore a calculated infrared journey, with a live distance counter and astronomical distance milestones.
Light a candle. Leave a memory. Invite the people who remember them too, when you feel ready.
There is room for a story, a quiet moment, or simply being here.
Spend a moment with SebA small gesture of love, left on their space. No account needed.
Share the stories and messages you want to remember.
Explore the energy journeys of people remembered around the world.
Visit A Universe of EnergyThe science: The speed of light · Infrared carries energy · How radiation interacts with matter
See the journeys of people remembered around the world, together on one interactive globe.
Start with someone you love.
Track your loved oneYour space is saved to your account, ready whenever you want to return.