This beautiful Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W planetarium lets you stargaze from your couch

By Simon Batt

5 hours ago

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Image Credit: 101 Things

Summary

• The Pi Pico 2 W planetarium shows the current sky on a 480×320 ST7796 display via Wi-Fi time sync.
• It's a beginner-friendly build, requiring a Pico 2 W, a display, four tactile buttons, and an optional 3D case.
• Enter your latitude and longitude, connect to Wi-Fi, and get live sky updates to stargaze indoors.

With the nights getting longer, those who love stargazing will get more time to peer into the inky blackness. Unfortunately, it will also get colder, and unless you have some good outdoor clothes, you may prefer to keep an eye on the constellations from the warmth of your home.

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If you want to trade shivering in the cold winter nights for a mug of coffee on the sofa, this Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W project has what you're looking for. It lets you take a peek at the sky above you, and it's not that difficult to make.

The Pi Pico 2 W Planetarium is the coolest way to observe the night sky

In a post on Instructables, a user named 101 Things shared their newest project. It's called the Pi Pico 2 W Planetarium, and as you can gather by the name, it's a device that lets you take a peek at all the celestial bodies that are above you at any given time.

Here's how 101 Things describes the project:

The Pi Pico Planetarium is a compact, low-cost astronomy viewer built around the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W and a 480x320 ST7796 TFT display. Designed with both beginners and experienced hobbyists in mind, it offers a hands-on introduction to microcontrollers, electronics, and astronomy, while remaining flexible and expandable for more advanced use.

The coolest part about this project is that it keeps tabs on your local time via Wi-Fi. This allows the system to update the planetarium in real time, meaning you're always aware of what's over your head, even during the daytime.

After taking a look at the instructions, I agree that the project is beginner-friendly. The bill of materials calls for a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W, a 480x320 ST7796 TFT display, four 4mm tactile buttons, and an optional 3D-printed enclosure. All you need to do is collect the parts, follow the Instructables construction guide, connect it to your Wi-Fi, and then manually enter your latitude and longitude. You should be digital stargazing in no time.

If you're not familiar with the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W, you shouldn't underestimate it just because it's a small SBC. The charming board has managed to find its way into a ton of projects around XDA, so be sure to check out these five projects you can complete in a weekend with the $8 Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W and these six projects we've already built with a $15 Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W.