Building a realistic artificial sun (for dark winter days)

DIY Perks · 9 recommenders · 8 months

DIY Perks builds a realistic artificial sun for dark winters, using a powerful water-cooled LED, a satellite dish reflector for near-parallel rays, and a scattering layer to mimic the blue sky. The video explains the optics behind why most lamps do not look like sunlight and shows the build and its results.

Why Hacker News readers recommend it: Whenever HN discusses seasonal affective disorder, myopia, or bright home lighting, people point to this as the most convincing buildable example of sunlight-like illumination.

9 recommenders3 strong recommendations2020–2025