North is North, or is it?

[Mav359]

Hi guys/girls

Are we looking for Magnetic north or True north when setting up, im waiting on a compass to be delivered but for now am using my i-phone and im not sure which of the two i should use?

Cheers

[swamp thing]

True North is the point where the Earth rotates so I would think that is where you wanna set up to.

Regards Steve

[adamsp123]

True North

[Mav359]

thanks guys

[Superewza]

I wouldn't have thought it would matter much, where we are?

[Macavity]

I suspect the i-Phone etc. uses some sort of "transducer" to find magnetic north and then applies a software correction, to obtain true north? I find that most of my (cheap) compasses point in slightly different directions too. Ultimately Polaris is the most definitive measure... Well, to (within) a degree (sic)!

[Ant]

Polar alignment does matter - the closer the better. Especially for imaging...

Even for visual - the closer you have the polar alignment the longer the object will be in the FOV without adjustment.

Ant