Telescope Setup — 1234.nu

1 Level the tripod

Lay the phone flat on the tripod head or mount base and adjust the legs until the bubble is centred — it turns green (and the phone buzzes) within 0.5°. On a known-flat surface, tap Zero first to cancel any case offset.

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Pitch —

Roll —

2 Point at true north

Aim the mount's polar axis at true north. Once your location is known, the compass corrects the magnetic reading with your local declination automatically. Hold the phone flat, keep it away from the steel tripod, and wave it in a figure-8 to calibrate.

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True —

Magnetic —

Declination —

3 Handset site data

Read these straight into the SynScan handset or app during initialization — longitude first, then latitude, date as mm/dd/yyyy. Tap any value to copy it.

Longitude: —
Latitude: —
Elevation: —
Date: —
Local time: —
UTC offset: —
Daylight saving: —

4 Polar-align on Polaris

Adjust the mount's altitude and azimuth bolts until Polaris sits on the dashed circle at the position shown. The dial matches an inverting polar scope (the SynScan "Polaris Position in P.Scope" value); switch to naked eye if you sight along the axis.

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Clock —

Hour angle —

LST —

Polaris (of date) —

Rotate with phone

Rotate with phone: hold the phone up with the screen facing you and the dial stays fixed against the sky while the phone rolls — compare it directly with what you see.