Orientation

To flip the view to your choice, click on the “Orientation” menu item along the top, and choose your preference. The default choice that comes with the install is the naked eye view from the northern hemisphere. You can have your preference come up automatically when you start the program by going into the “Settings” menu and selecting it there and saving it, or by changing the orientation directly then saving the configuration on exiting the program.

The four orientations are:

• Naked eye view :(north up). This is upside down if you live south of the equator, suitable for Newtonians down there, or refractors/SCTs without a diagonal
• Upside down: (south up). This is the view through a Newtonian scope in the northern hemisphere “inverted”, and a naked eye view from south of the equator
• SCT/REFR with diagonal: This is a so-called flipped view, one that the standard SCT setup with a diagonal will show from the northern hemisphere. Refractors without a diagonal, in the “straight through” mode, should use the “upside down” view
• SCT/REFR with diagonal S.Hemi: Just about says it all - SCT or refractor users from the southern hemisphere should choose this to match your view

The little square on the panel at lower left shows a red colored pair of arrows showing the cardinal directions of celestial North and West. NOTE: This is WEST on the sky, as we see it, though it is actually the Moon’s EAST.

The square is an aid to remind you which way is up so to speak, and to know what to expect when you pan the image up/down/left/right, which don’t hold their usual meanings!