Alyssa entered the observatory intending to use the Nocturnal Instrument to read the time using the alignment of the stars. Now that she was familiar with using the instrument she quickly aligned the disks to reflect tonight’s date. She decided that she would continue to use Cassopeia's star Shedar, as the reference star.

Carrying the instrument to the nearest window, Alyssa lifted it up using both her hands, held up the instrument in a vertical position away from her with the handle down. She then looked through the hole in the center of the instrument, and continued to moved it around until she found Polaris, otherwise known as the North Star, shining up above her. Remaining in the same position, Alyssa then aligned the long pointer, slowly adjusting it until it pointed to Shedar viewing position should be like this

Once she was sure that she had everything aligned in the correct positions, Alyssa brought the instrument closer to her and read the time indicated by the pointer on the disks. It lay exactly on the first line where 8 was. That meant that it was approximately 8 p.m. Alyssa quickly looked at her watch and had to stop herself from jumping with excitement, when the digits read 8:01 p.m. She had been successful again at reading the time using the Nocturnal Instrument.

Now all she had to do was complete one more time reading, either using the sundial or this instrument, and she would have completed her first astronomy homework assignment. Packing up the instrument into her bag, Alyssa made her way out of the observatory and back to her Common Room.