Orion's Finger & NOVA

Winner - 2019~2020 Science Fair Competition
Built by Amanuel Tesfaye | Grades 9–11 | Ethiopia

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The Story

I started this in Grade 9 and kept building until Grade 11.

I was into space and batch scripting was the only thing I knew, so I started with a text file of star data from Wikipedia, NASA, and astronomy books. Just kept adding to it. By Grade 11 the database passed 800 objects.

Then I built the hardware to go with it - a Lego frame, three servo motors, an Arduino Uno, and a laser pointer. NOVA sends coordinates through a PowerShell script to the Arduino, and the arm moves to point the laser at whatever star you searched for.

Won first place at the 2019~2020 Science Fair.

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Files

File	What it is
NOVA.bat	The batch program. 871+ stars, galaxies, nebulas, planets, clusters. Search and browse with full data.
StarPointer.ino	Arduino firmware. Controls 3 servo motors over serial at 115200 baud.
PointToCelestial.ps1	PowerShell script. Converts RA/Dec to Alt/Az based on your latitude/longitude.
SendToStarPointer.ps1	Sends angle commands to the Arduino over a COM port.
image ASCII assets/	ASCII art that shows in the console when you inspect an object.

Hardware

• Arduino Uno
• 3 servo motors
• Laser pointer
• Lego frame
• Wires and breadboard

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How It Works

NOVA looks up RA/Dec for the object
  → PointToCelestial.ps1 converts to Alt/Az
  → SendToStarPointer.ps1 sends angles to Arduino
  → Servos move, laser points

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How to Run

1. Open cmd.exe (not PowerShell)
2. cd to the project folder
3. Type: NOVA.bat
4. Pick Search (1) or Browse (2)

If you have the hardware:

.\PointToCelestial.ps1 -RA "05:55:10" -Dec "+07:24:25" -Lat 40.71 -Long -74.00 -COM COM3

That points at Betelgeuse from New York.

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Tech

Layer	Stack
UI & Database	Batch (cmd)
Math engine	PowerShell
Firmware	C++ (Arduino)
Serial	115200 baud, ASCII
Coordinates	RA/Dec → Alt/Az

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Project Tree

Orion's Finger/
├── NOVA.bat
├── StarPointer.ino
├── PointToCelestial.ps1
├── SendToStarPointer.ps1
├── Project image.jpg
├── README.md
└── image ASCII assets/
    ├── Stars/
    ├── Galaxies/
    ├── Nebulas/
    └── Planets/

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Amanuel Tesfaye - 2019~2020