Microbit and planetary transits
I am putting together a Micro:bit project to try and demonstrate how we find planets around distance stars using transits. The idea is to use the micro:bit as a light sensor and use the 5z5 LED display.
As LEDs can also detect light then it is possible to use the display to indicate the level of light in the room.
By illuminating this with a torch, and blocking some of the light, the number of lit LEDs is reduced, during the time the light is blocked. This should be visible on the display.
I need to try and construct something from LEGO WeDo to use a motor and rotate a plastic or polystyrene ball in a circular motion so that during this the ball moves between the lit torch and the display, castng a shadow and reducing the light level.
What should be produced is a graph that shows the light level at a peak, dropping for a period of time then rising up once the display is fully illuminated again.
This should provide a basic demonstration as to the common method of finding planets around stars.
I have set the Micro:bit to also send data via the serial port, so also need to figure out a way to read this data, however this is not an essential aspect to the project.
My target for this is the November stem group meeting.