“The SolarQuest is elegant in its simplicity and works like a dream. For one of our review tests we fitted a small, white light-filtered telescope onto the mount head, powered the SolarQuest mount and waited for it to point at the Sun. Once done, we fine-tuned the Sun’s position via a high frame-rate camera and an on-screen reticule. We checked the alignment at regular intervals and, impressively, over a five-hour period the Sun’s disc remained within the central part of the reticule.” BBC SKY AT NIGHT MAGAZINE
Solar observing has just been made incredibly easy!
Sky-Watcher's clever and technologically innovative SolarQuest™ mount is extremely user-friendly and provides a safe experience for automatically locating and observing the sun with your solar telescope.
Just roughly level the tripod and point your solar telescope anywhere to the left of the sun and let Sky-Watcher's revolutionary HelioFind™ Solar Alignment Technology automatically do the rest!! At the single push of a button, the telescope will be auto-levelled and the mount via GPS data fixing will calculate the altitude of the sun based on the time and location. The telescope will then be pointed to the correct altitude and the mount will slew clockwise hunting for the sun. The Solar Sensor will detect the sun and lock onto it, and will silently track and keep it within the eyepiece's field of view indefinitely.
The SolarQuest™ mount can be used by educational establishments, beginners and experienced observers alike. When mated with your solar telescope it is a great companion when observing sunspots, solar eclipses, solar surface details & the transit of inner planets across the sun.
The SolarQuest™ mount is lightweight and portable, quiet in operation, has a payload capacity of up to 4kg and accepts telescopes with standard 45mm Dovetail Bars.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The SolarQuest™ mount is designed to be used with solar telescopes only. Do not point any other type of optical device at the Sun. Looking directly at the Sun without verified-safe, professionally made solar filtering will cause immediate and irreversible damage to the eyes (blindness), damage to the telescope, and will be a fire risk.
MAIN FEATURES:
- HelioFind™ Solar Alignment Technology: Solar Sensor with 4 x Photodiodes & built-in GPS data fixing to obtain time & location to calculate the sun's azimuth and alltitude
- Telescope Auto-levelling feature with the help of the built-in tilt sensor (3 x axis accelerometer in the sensor block).
- Auto drift correction through feedback from Solar Sensor
- Auto Pointing Offset Correcting Feature
- 8-Way Sliding Switch for Centring Sun in Field of View
- Tracking Rates: Alignment-Free Solar Tracking
- Pointing Accuracy: Up to 3 arc-minute (after customer calibration)
- Resolution: 2073600 Counts/Rev., 0.625 arc-second
- Slewing Speeds: 16x & 1200x
- Tracking Mode: Dual Axis Tracking
- Motor: DC Servo Motor, Gear Ratio 6480
- Payload Capacity: 4kg
- 45mm Sky-Watcher/Vixen type dovetail saddle
- 3/8" Screw Fittings (tripod/mount)
- Adjustable Aluminium Tripod with Accessory Tray
- Bubble Level
- Height of Tripod/Mount: 80.5cm - 152cm
- Mount Head Weight: 1.3kg
- Total Weight with Tripod: 4.05kg
- Low Power Consumption
- Power Requirement: 8 AA Size Batteries (not supplied) or External Power Supply DC 12V, Tip Positive (via adaptor panel).
