Support

How do I play?

Look up: drag to turn around and look up at tonight's sky. Hold your finger on a bright star, a planet, the Moon or a constellation to name it with your own eyes.
Find something: open the Guide for tonight's best. Pick one and you turn to face it; tap its marker in the sky to point your telescope (a GoTo telescope points itself).
Look closer: tap Look to look through your telescope. Drag, or push the stick at the bottom left, to move; zoom with the + and − buttons; the finder at the left shows where you're pointing. Hold something in the middle ring and it comes into focus: a new discovery.
Photograph it: centre it and tap Photo. Better framing, a darker sky, a tracking mount and a better camera all raise the grade.

Settings → How to play walks you through it again at any time.

How do I come back to something I found?

At the eyepiece, tap Mark (the ribbon) to bookmark the view, at the power you're using. Your bookmarks are in the Guide, under Bookmarks, with where each one is tonight: pick one and you turn to face it (a GoTo telescope points itself), or follow the pink arrow at the eyepiece. The pencil renames one.

How do I share my photos?

Open a photo (from your Logbook, or right after you take it) and tap Share. Pick a post, a Reel or Story, a wide picture for X, a square, or a short clip. On an iPhone or iPad, Share or save opens the share sheet: send it to any app (Instagram, TikTok, X, Messages…), or Save Image or Save Video to keep it in Photos. On Android, Share sends it to any app, and Save puts it in your Photos, in a Stargazer's Hill album.

How do I see my own sky?

Settings → Home sky. Tap the map where you live, or tap Use my location, and your backyard's sky is the sky over your home.

I can't see a faint nebula or galaxy

Faint things need a dark sky: wait for the Moon to set (or for a night near new Moon), let them climb higher, travel to a dark site, or use a bigger telescope. Big, faint nebulae look best at low power; small ones at a higher power. Through the eyepiece they're grey, as they really are; a camera brings out their colour.

There's no sound

On an iPhone or iPad, the game follows the silent switch, so turn the ringer on. On Android, turn up the media volume. Also check the Music, Night sounds and Effects sliders in Settings. Coming back to the game from another app, the sound returns with your first tap.

The words are too small (or too big)

Settings → Text size makes the words and buttons bigger or smaller.

The screen's too bright at night

Settings → Red light turns the game red, the way astronomers keep their eyes dark-adapted: Controls for the buttons and panels only, or Everything.

What's the Observatory Pass?

The game's one purchase, and it's optional: the rest of the game is free. Buy it once and it's yours for good. It takes you to Mauna Kea and the South Pole straight away, and opens the 1-Metre Research Telescope (from level 52) and the 10-Metre Giant Telescope on Mauna Kea (from level 68), which you then buy in the Shop with the money you earn in the game. It doesn't skip levels or give money.

How do I buy it?

Open the Pass from any of these: Travel (the map), where Mauna Kea and the South Pole have an Observatory Pass button; the Shop, where the two big telescopes have an Obs. Pass button; or Settings → Observatory Pass. It shows what the Pass opens and its price in your own currency. Tap Get the Pass and the App Store or Google Play takes it from there. If Google Play says your purchase is pending (some ways of paying take a while), the Pass arrives as soon as it goes through.

How do I restore the Pass?

Settings → Restore purchases, or Restore on the Pass screen. Use the same Apple Account or Google account you bought it with, and be online while you do: once it's back, the game plays offline again. Restoring is free. The game also looks for the Pass each time it starts, so it often comes back by itself.

I have a new phone or tablet

Install the game, signed in to the App Store or Google Play with the account you bought the Pass with, and restore it (above). The Pass belongs to your store account, so it works on every phone and tablet you use with it. Your progress is different: it's saved on your device, so it moves to the new one only if your device's own backup or transfer brings the game's data along.

Can my family share the Pass?

No. Family Sharing is off for the Observatory Pass, so it stays with the Apple Account or Google account that bought it. Each person who wants it buys it on their own account.

Can I play with a keyboard or a controller?

Yes. Menu → Controls lists every key and button.

How do I start over?

Settings → Start over. This wipes your logbook, photographs, telescopes and progress, and can't be undone. Your settings, home, astronomer and the Observatory Pass stay.