Main Screen (Guide)

The Guide screen is the central screen of the app. It shows in real time how far your telescope is from the target object and in which direction you need to move it.

Display

• Header: Name of the current target, catalog ID, and constellation. Without a target it reads “Select target…”
• Crosshair: Shows the offset to the target. The red dot shows the calibrated position — it only appears after calibration (at least 2 stars).
• Distance: Angular distance to the target in degrees (e.g. 0.34°), color-coded:
  • Green: < 0.5° (almost on target)
  • Yellow: < 2° (close)
  • White: farther away
• Delta display: ΔAz x.xx° · ΔAlt x.xx° — how much to correct in azimuth and altitude
• Calibration quality: Traffic-light indicator top right (green/yellow/red)

Actions

Menu

The hamburger menu (three lines, bottom left) opens a floating panel with several sections:

• Catalog — Browse objects and set as target
• Favorites — Saved objects and lists
• Observation Log — Record of past observations
• Equipment — Manage telescopes, eyepieces, Barlows, and filters
• Statistics — Observation statistics
• Settings — App configuration
• Help — In-app documentation
• Help Video — Introductory video for the app

Sky Navigation

The sky view always follows the device orientation via the sensors. Before calibration, compass heading and device tilt are used (handheld mode). After calibration, the view uses the calibrated sensor pipeline, which takes the active mounting mode into account.

Pan gestures are available at all times — panning creates an offset over the sensor position. A help banner shows “View offset” with a “Reset” button to return to the sensor position. See gesture-based-sky-navigation.

Star Filter Panel

The filter panel is opened via the floating visibility button (eyeglasses icon, bottom left) and controls which stars are shown on the star chart:

• Auto brightness: Automatically adjusts visible stars to current sky conditions. Takes into account the sun’s position (twilight phases) and the Bortle value of the active observation session. During daylight almost no stars are shown, during twilight progressively more, and at night according to the Bortle value.
• Star brightness (manual): In manual mode, the limiting magnitude is set with a slider (1.0–6.0 mag).

In auto mode, constellation figure stars are not given preference — only brightness counts. DSOs and planets are not affected by the star filter. Constellation lines are controlled via Settings → Sky Chart, not via the filter panel (the toggle was removed from the panel in #393).

Starting an Observation Session

When no active observation session exists, the filter panel shows a “Start Session” button. This creates a new session with the current GPS location. Weather data is fetched automatically and seeing and transparency values are estimated. The seeing and transparency controls then appear directly in the panel, so conditions can be adjusted without opening the observation log. Any already running sessions are automatically closed.

When a session is active, the session name and start time are shown above the conditions controls.

Haptic Feedback

The app provides vibration feedback as the telescope approaches the target:

• < 5° — light vibration
• < 2° — light vibration (stronger)
• < 0.5° — strong vibration (target reached!)

Feedback only triggers when approaching, not when moving away.

Warnings

• “Target near zenith — azimuth inaccurate”: For objects above 75° altitude, azimuth determination is physically imprecise. This is normal.
• “Calibration recommended”: Shown when calibration has not yet been performed.