Before doing any of the planetarium activities you should install the planetarium software, read the user's manual, and experiment using the planetarium controls until you are familiar with what the various controls do.

Planetarium Software Instructions

Set the geographic location to a major city near you or enter your own longitude and latitude. Set the time to 9 P.M. on today's date. Set the field chart mode to local horizon and the field to 45°. Set the display so that it locks on altitude and azimuth, then scroll to azimuth 270° and altitude 20° (due west). You should see a blue horizon line across the bottom of the display. If you don't see it, turn on the horizon. Set the step size to 1 minute and start the animation. Watch the motion until a couple of hours have passed. Then scroll to azimuth 360° (due north) and observe the motion of the sky until a couple of hours have passed. Try to find the location of the North Celestial Pole. Compare the motion of the sky when looking west and north.