# Source: intro.adoc

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== About

The https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/sense-hat/[Raspberry Pi Sense HAT] is an add-on board that gives your Raspberry Pi an array of sensing capabilities. The on-board sensors allow you to monitor pressure, humidity, temperature, colour, orientation, and movement. The 8×8 RGB LED matrix allows you to visualise data from the sensors. The five-button joystick lets users interact with your projects.

image::images/Sense-HAT.jpg[width="70%"]

The Sense HAT was originally developed for use on the International Space Station as part of the educational https://astro-pi.org/[Astro Pi] programme run by the https://raspberrypi.org[Raspberry Pi Foundation] in partnership with the https://www.esa.int/[European Space Agency]. It can help with any project that requires position, motion, orientation, or environmental sensing.

An officially supported xref:sense-hat.adoc#use-the-sense-hat-with-python[Python library] provides access to the on-board sensors, LED matrix, and joystick. The Sense HAT is compatible with any Raspberry Pi device with a 40-pin GPIO header.