With my box constructed, I then set out to pull together the lighting components. I initially designed a hole in the back of the box in the worst case scenario that I had to run a string of LEDs to a wall socket, but I wanted to hook the lights to a battery so that the lamp could be portable and self contained. In addition, my ideal scenario involved an Arduino so the light could also appear to orbit around the black hole. 

Using some code and schematics I found online (https://www.ledsupply.com/blog/7-tips-before-installing-led-strip-lights/ and ( https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/connect-led-light-strips-arduino/) I built the circuit and got the LEDs running. Unfortunately, I learned that my LEDs were not addressable, and so I couldn't create the orbiting effect that I wanted. In addition, for whatever reason the Blue LED PIN was not receiving any data. I tried switching out the electronics and that did nothing, but when I rewired it to the wall outlet, the blue lights worked. For whatever reason, the Arduino circuit just didn't like the blue pin, meaning my colors were going to be a little off my intended design as well. 

The final let down came from the diffusing effect. I tried a couple of different types of frosted acrylic but settled on the dark gray color called "smoke" because it looked a bit more like outer space. However, this acrylic was much more translucent than the other frosted acrylic sheets. To make it more diffuse, I cut out a piece of mylar and glued it to the back of the front face of the lamp. This diffused light as it emitted from the inside of the lamp, but the overall light output was incredibly dim. 

The lamp shone in the dark, but not enough to be a functional lamp. There were most likely several reasons for this. One, the diffusing material work well -- maybe too well. Two, I used a 12V LED strip and powered it with a 9V battery. The lower voltage meant that my LEDs were always going to be dimmer than their max setting. However, there wasn't enough time left in my project to try something else.