We’ve been developing some of the best digital setting circles (otherwise known as DSCs) for all types of push-to telescopes since 2007, but we’ve never delved into what they are. Read below to find out how our products work and why they’re so useful in the field.

What are digital setting circles?

Digital setting circles are little computers that show you where to point your telescope to locate your astronomical target.

You input the target’s coordinates (or find it in the DSC’s catalogue) and the DSC will then show you a readout of numbers that represent the angular distances to your target, your goal being to move your telescope until those numbers are as close to zero as possible. At zero (or close to), your scope will be pointing at your target object. You can think of them as a GPS for your telescope.

Digital setting circles are useful for:

• finding faint objects
• finding objects in light-polluted skies
• identifying objects
• preserving an astronomer’s patience

Each DSC comprises of:

• 2 rotary encoders
• mounting hardware
• and the DSC unit itself

The encoders can vary in resolution – the higher the resolution, the more accurate your DSC will be. Most telescopes have encoders that have a resolution of 8,000 – 10,000 steps per revolution, and most DSCs can’t accurately read higher than 40k steps.

✨ Astro Devices fun fact ✨ (open me up!)

Did you know that the Nexus DSC & Nexus DSC Pro can read up to 99,999,999 steps per revolution? (And yes, we do mean 99 MILLION, that’s not a mistake!) This makes them the most powerful & advanced digital setting circles on the market.

Encoders are attached to your telescope’s axes and sense the scope’s position as it is moved. The encoders send pulses to the DSC unit, whose computer will convert them to angular values and calculate where the telescope is pointing. All of this is done after a quick two-star alignment (where you select two objects in the sky and point to them in turn) to determine the telescope’s location. It generally takes about a minute to set up a DSC for a viewing session.

Interested in checking all of these out?

We sell DSCs, both low- and high-resolution encoder kits for various telescopes and mounts, and related accessories. To check out our products, head to our shop or browse through our digital setting circles below.

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