First light Review - Ioptron AZ Pro GoTo & Starwave 110 ED Frac

[Pig]

Yes one would think so as solar is available for all the usual applications and appears in all menu options until you opt for "solar system alignment" during the day time, then it is not available :-)

Like I said though it is not a real problem as the mount is quite accurate and you can rely on it knowing where it is from the GPS  but in reality there are no other targets visible during the daytime to centre the mount on when prompted. So you just have to blindly select one that is showing in the menu IE Venus or Mercury and rely on the GPS being correct.

[The Admiral]

That is a bit irritating. I wonder if it only shows objects which it thinks are visible at the time? Does it show the sun at night, or if you enter a false time?

I would think it worth dropping iOptron a line if only to get them to correct any error in programming of the handset.

Ian

[The Admiral]

Hi Pig, I've been looking at the manual a bit more, and it is confusingly inconsistent (or perhaps it is, just rather subtle!).

In Sec 4.1 we read

"Just flip the power switch ON and wait! .........
Now you can use “Select and Slew” to go to any objects!", "any" being the operative word here.

In Sec 4.2 it further says

"Press MENU on the hand controller and select “Select and Slew”. Select a category, such as
“Named Star”, and then select a star of interest, and press ENTER. The telescope will slew to the
object and automatically start tracking."

From which one would gather that if you wanted to track the sun, you'd go to "Solar System" and then select "Sun". However, from your explanation I gather that doesn't work.

However, Sec 4.3 relates specifically to Solar Observation, where it says

"Press MENU => “Sync to Target” on the hand controller, then follow the instruction on the hand
controller screen to select a catalog, here is “Solar System”, and then select “Sun” and use the arrow
keys to center it and press ENTER.
Change the tracking rate to Solar by press MENU => “Settings” => “Set Tracking Rate” =>
“Solar” ".

So this does appear subtly different, you don't use "Select and Slew", but "Sync to Target".

Interestingly though, if you manually align, then the manual says for Solar System Alignment:

"5.3.4. Solar System Alignment
This function uses a planet or the moon as an alignment object. Press MENU => “Alignment”
=> “Solar System Align” for a list of available alignment objects. "

Note that there is no mention of the Sun here; I wonder if that is just an oversight?

Anyway, with all this as background, would I be correct in saying that although the mount might not be commanded to slew to the Sun once it does its auto-align, you would be able to manually centre the Sun and then sync the mount to it? That would be essentially what I do with my Nexstar SE mount, where I align to the Sun once I have it in view. I don't understand why you would use Mercury or Venus, but just align on the Sun directly.

Sorry if I appear to be meddling, I'm just keen to understand what the mount can do.

Ian

[Pig]

LoL, the manual does make simple things complicated. I find the handset quite intuitive and have only used the manual if I get stuck.

It depends on which menu you choose as to the options you see, some show available targets others show all ( but not solar ) I guess syncing is the best way for this but I haven't checked if it is available at the time as I haven't used sync as yet.