High-Level Project Summary
SunBuddy is a space weather concept toy aimed at children 3-10.The purpose of the toy is a soft learning approach to Heliophysics, and the relationship to our planet. Both the Sun and Earth will be blown plastic spheres with LED lights inside to demonstrate solar wind, sunspots, CMEs, Earth Radiation, Auroras, and Earth daylight. The two spheres will be on a stand that connects to the internet for data, A/C power source, and the electronics necessary to do the above functions. A website will be required for registration to obtain the zip code for local Aurora opportunities. The website will also offer further educational opportunities for current space weather events.
Link to Project "Demo"
Detailed Project Description
SunBuddy is a real time Space Weather demonstration disguised as a fun table lamp.
the Sun and Earth objects are semi-transparent plastic globes with LED lights to perform the following:
- demonstrate real time sunspots
- demonstrate CMEs on the sun's surface
- real time Earth daylight
- demonstrate Solar Wind through cycling lights on the Sun's "rays"
- demonstrate realistic Earth rotation
- showcase real-time Auroras
The base of Sun Buddy will display the real time Space Weather forecast on Earth as either 'Normal', 'Moderate', or 'Severe".
Flashing lights when an aurora is visible from the user's location provided they registered on SunBuddy's website with a zip code. It also will display the number of Sunspots and the current Solar Wind.
The Sun portion of Sun Buddy will display earth facing sunspots in an approximate location by turning off LED lights in the LED light sphere. The Sun rays on the Sun will cycle through lights in a slow, medium, to fast pace depending on the current solar wind. If a CME occurs either from a sunspot or otherwise, those regions will turn red.
The Earth portion of Sun Buddy, will be half lit to represent the current daylight on Earth. It will also light up purple where an aurora is possible. This will be possible with Color Changing LED lights that will be programmed according to data.
The SunBuddy will offer a real-time observation for children to see space weather on their dresser! It will also be a fun lamp, because I imagine it will be pretty bright. Since Auroras are pretty rare for many people, this could allow a child a good opportunity to potentially experience an aurora.
Since children will most likely not be able to keep the lamp on nonstop, it will require batteries to hold the zip code and wifi information in case it's unplugged or a power outage occurs.
The SunBuddy website companion will have further information if the child wants more information because of a "red dot" (CME) or if the "Severe" light for Space Weather is active, for example.
Space Agency Data
The Daily Photo from SoHo of the sun is my inspiration for the Sunspots display in my toy.
Hackathon Journey
I choose this challenge because I thought it would be fun to develop a toy that would try to softly introduce the idea of space weather to young children.
I started with an app, but that wasn't very fun and wanted something more engaging that a child could experience as an everyday item to understand the dynamics of Heliophysics.
I wish I was more technical and could have had more time to actual implement the data from SOHO/SDO to understand the programming a bit better behind my toy concept.
References
Photo of Daily Sunspots -- NASA SDO;
Tags
#Sun #heliophysics #stemtoys #spaceweather