MAGIC Game - Catch the Gamma!

This is project contains resources for the "Catch the Gamma!" game, an exhibit on the MS Wissenshaft in 2023. Visitors have to maneuver a model of the MAGIC telescope via joystick to a specific position within a certain time in order to capture a gamma event. They learn how a gamma quantum from space interacts with the earth's atmosphere. The Cherenkov light that is produced is picked up by the telescope and thus indirectly gives an image of the gamma source in space.

Technical Implementation

The model of the telescope is created at the MPI for Physics with a 3D printer. Like the real telescope on La Palma, it has two axes of motion:

1. The azimuth, which is the angle between the north pole and the position of the celestial object.
2. The elevation, i.e. the height of the celestial object above the horizon.

The telescope model is moved with two stepper motors in the two axes. The user can control these with an analog joystick. A microcontroller board (Arduino Mega 2560) handles the program flow, interfaces with the actuators and sensors, and communicates with other components of the showcase.

Software Tools

• Arduino 1.8.19
• SimulIDE-1.1.0-SR2
• KiCad 7.0.0

Copyright and License

Copyright (c) 2023 Max Planck Society

This project "MAGIC Game - Catch the Gamma!" is under the copyright of the Max Planck Society. It is licensed under the GPLv3.

3rd Party Material

Arduino KiCad Library

The Arduino KiCad library is under the copyright of Nicholas Parks Young. It is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. No modifications have been made to any of the files.