At the beginning, I got stuck at the alignment step. Alignment with Sirius and other stars failed several times. Finally, I chose to align with the Moon directly:
Alignment -> Solar Sys. Align -> MoonThis is not the most precise alignment method for every observing session, but it is practical when the target is the Moon and the goal is visual observing or quick phone photography. For better results, the telescope should be roughly level, the date and time should be correct, and the finder should already be aligned with the main telescope.
After the alignment settled, the telescope started tracking automatically. Then came the more delicate part: adjusting the 3-axis phone support. Small movements mattered a lot, because the phone camera had to sit exactly over the eyepiece while keeping the Moon centered in the field of view.
After some nerve-racking adjustments, I took a few glamorous photos of the Moon with an iPhone through the NexStar 8 SE.
Taken by iPhone on NexStar 8 SE