If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch with a gyroscope, SkySafari can show you the sky in same the direction that you're holding your phone. As you move the phone around, the view on the sky chart follows your motion. You can identify stars and planets by holding your phone up next to them, and you can find any object in the sky by following an arrow that points in its direction.
You can activate the gyroscope by tapping the Gyro button in the toolbar. Tap the Gyro button again, or touch any part of the sky chart, to turn the gyroscope off.
Please note: you need an iPhone 4 or a 4th-generation iPod Touch to use the gyroscope. The toolbar icon for the Gyro will not appear if you're running SkySafari on a device that lacks one. If your device has both a compass and a gyroscope, you can't use them both at the same time: if you turn on the compass, the gyroscope turns off, and vice-versa.
Please note: in SkySafari Plus and Pro, the gyroscope cannot be used when you are orbiting another object in the solar system. You can only use the gyroscope when you are viewing from Earth. See the Orbit button Help for more information.
Unlike the compass/accelerometer, the gyroscope measures your device's orientation relative to a known starting point. The gyro does not measure your device's true orientation relative to north/south/east/west or up/down in the sky. So to find your way around the sky with the gyroscope, you'll need to use a slightly different process.
First, locate a known reference object in the sky, like the Moon, or the Big Dipper. Then search for the same object in SkySafari, and center it on the screen. With the object centered, hold your device toward the object in the sky. Then tap the gyro button (with a finger in your other hand!) to turn on the gyro. Now, as you move your device around, the gyroscope follows its orientation relative to the object you used as a starting point. As you move the device around, the sky chart on the screen follows to match the view in the sky behind it.
As with the compass, you can use the gyroscope to find an object in the sky. Start with a known object in the sky, then find and center the same known object in SkySafari's sky chart, and turn on the gyroscope - just as described above. Then search for the unknown object you're trying to find in SkySafari. When the Object Info view appears for that object, tap the Center button. SkySafari show an arrow that leads toward the object; follow the arrow with your phone to find the object in the sky.
Although the gyrosope requires you to begin with a known object as a starting point, its motion is generally much smoother and more accurate than the compass. And on devices which lack a compass - like the 4th-generation iPod Touch - it's really the only option for finding objects in the sky.