Sky-Watcher SolarQuest - New Solar Tracking / GoTo Mount

[FLO]

Sky-Watcher have announced the new SolarQuest Solar Tracking and GoTo mount.

The mount features 4x photodiodes, in-built GPS and a 3-axis accelerometer and is able to level itself, find the date, time and location and automatically find the sun, lock on to it and track it!

We are very excited about the possibilities of this mount!

We are taking deposits now, stock is due to arrive early May but we expect these to be very, very popular.

More details, specs and videos available on our website.

[SteveA]

Very interesting bit of kit that.....

Nice videos, though maybe they should have included a safety warning re observing the sun with the correct sort of equipment? I was almost expecting fried eye balls as the guy looked through the eyepiece....

 

Steve

[FLO]

The telescope in the videos is a Sky-Watcher 70mm white light solar telescope so no eyeballs were harmed in the making of that video

[Alan White]

Interesting mount, clearly developed from existing AZ Gti.
Any ideas of price yet?

[FLO]

7 minutes ago, Alan White said:

Interesting mount, clearly developed from existing AZ Gti.
Any ideas of price yet?

Latest price is on our website - we will continue to monitor the situation though and update as necessary to ensure we are always competitive

[nightfisher]

This mount is well priced and a nice addition to the range, good to see a dedicated Solar tracking mount, should be a good seller 

[Stu]

What a fun piece of kit, it's really good to see a bit of new tech being brought into these mounts to liven things up a bit.

Question.... I assume the mount it doesn't actually level itself but detects if it is not level and makes sure the scope starts from a level position, and tracks accurately?

[FLO]

1 minute ago, Stu said:

Question.... I assume the mount it doesn't actually level itself but detects if it is not level and makes sure the scope starts from a level position, and tracks accurately?

Yes

[Jkulin]

Interesting bit of kit, as SteveA said and I agree if I were FLO I would remove the video of the demonstrating looking at the sun with no filter on, really quite silly to promote that as some people will think it safe to do so, even if FLO just put in Bold under the video that you need to have a filter otherwise risk frying your eyes.

Edited March 5, 2018 by Jkulin

[FLO]

5 minutes ago, Jkulin said:

Interesting bit of kit, as SteveA said and I agree if I were FLO I would remove the video of the demonstrating looking at the sun with no filter on, really quite silly to promote that as some people will think it safe to do so, even if FLO just put in Bold under the video that you need to have a filter otherwise risk frying your eyes.

The scope is filtered - it's a dedicated 70mm white light solar telescope from Sky-Watcher that we hope might make it's way to the UK at some point.

Our product page already had a warning message about solar observing but we have added an additional one just above the videos just to be sure

[Ewan]

Great product for those wishing to get into solar imaging if they don't already own a mount that is (stating the obvious I know), hope it goes well FLO

[Alien 13]

18 minutes ago, FLO said:

The scope is filtered - it's a dedicated 70mm white light solar telescope from Sky-Watcher that we hope might make it's way to the UK at some point.

Our product page already had a warning message about solar observing but we have added an additional one just above the videos just to be sure

That 70mm solar scope looks interesting too, would make a nice bundled product.

Alan

[Ricochet]

What are the advantages of this new mount over an az-gti? I see automatic solar finding and presumably more accurate tracking but is there anything else? I also notice that it has also lost a kg of payload capacity in comparison. 

[BinocularSky]

Is the dovetail clamp "tweakable" to enable the mount to be used with, say, a Coronado PST (1/4" thread in mounting block) and SW L-bracket?

[SilverAstro]

5 hours ago, FLO said:

so no eyeballs were harmed in the making of that video

I must admit to a little chuckle at the bit in the description "and irreversible damage to the eyes " shirly they mean eye -singular? one would still have a spare with which to investigate what went wrong the first time ? Or is there going to be a bino viewer in a bundle?

ok hat&coat

Now has been changed to the singular, but no "ho ho ho" here, oh well

 

Edited March 5, 2018 by SilverAstro

[FLO]

31 minutes ago, Ricochet said:

What are the advantages of this new mount over an az-gti? I see automatic solar finding and presumably more accurate tracking but is there anything else? I also notice that it has also lost a kg of payload capacity in comparison. 

Speed will be a big part - with the GPS to populate date, time and location and the photodiodes to align on to the sun you should be pointed to the star and tracking very quickly.

The auto drift correction should also help with imaging, keeping the sun aligned and centralised indefinitely - like having an auto-guider built-in

26 minutes ago, BinocularSky said:

Is the dovetail clamp "tweakable" to enable the mount to be used with, say, a Coronado PST (1/4" thread in mounting block) and SW L-bracket?

This would work well with the L-bracket, you could then attach the Coronado using that or a simple dovetail and screw would do the trick.

[SteveA]

1 hour ago, FLO said:

 we have added an additional one just above the videos just to be sure

Good call....thanks.

You knew it was a solar telescope and so did I....but to someone who was maybe slightly less well informed, it just looks like a regular small refractor (well almost).

Steve

[michaelmorris]

Looks like a great product.  Just one thing, is it just me or is the music in the videos much too loud, almost drowning out the narration?

[Chinapig]

15 minutes ago, michaelmorris said:

Looks like a great product.  Just one thing, is it just me or is the music in the videos much too loud, almost drowning out the narration?

No, it's not just you!  The music is indeed much too loud.

But the product looks pretty nifty.  Great for outreach - leave one scope setting itself up, while you set up another manually, with the Quark warming up in the meantime.  Nice.  

 

[BinocularSky]

On 05/03/2018 at 19:06, FLO said:

This would work well with the L-bracket, you could then attach the Coronado using that or a simple dovetail and screw would do the trick.

You misunderstand me. In the images, the dovetail block on the mount is orientated so that so a scope mounted directly to the dovetail would also point in the same direction as the sensor. With the dovetail as is, a scope mounted via the dovetail L-bracket would point in a direction perpendicular to the sensor. In order to get them parallel, the dovetail block orientation wrt the sensor would need to be tweakable. (Of course, a simple dovetail like the one you sent me a few months ago would not require "tweaking")

[Stu]

I wonder if it could also be a 'Lunar Quest'? Phases make the auto tracking a bit more difficult but still a simple plonk down, self align to the moon would be great for outreach.

[BinocularSky]

6 minutes ago, Stu said:

 self align to the moon would be great for outreach.

(Not intended as a criticism, but...) I wouldn't use it for that. When I do outreach, I plonk my 90mm Mak on an AZ4, and teach a couple of youngsters how to focus the scope and use the RDF to find the Moon, and tell them to teach their friends. I find that engages them more than just showing them something in an eyepiece. (Use a cheap eyepiece; the eye-lens will get touched! )

[Stu]

Just now, BinocularSky said:

(Not intended as a criticism, but...) I wouldn't use it for that. When I do outreach, I plonk my 90mm Mak on an AZ4, and teach a couple of youngsters how to focus the scope and use the RDF to find the Moon, and tell them to teach their friends. I find that engages them more than just showing them something in an eyepiece. (Use a cheap eyepiece; the eye-lens will get touched! )

Fairy nuff  

[FLO]

51 minutes ago, BinocularSky said:

You misunderstand me. In the images, the dovetail block on the mount is orientated so that so a scope mounted directly to the dovetail would also point in the same direction as the sensor. With the dovetail as is, a scope mounted via the dovetail L-bracket would point in a direction perpendicular to the sensor. In order to get them parallel, the dovetail block orientation wrt the sensor would need to be tweakable. (Of course, a simple dovetail like the one you sent me a few months ago would not require "tweaking")

Ah apologies - yes, the saddle can be removed, offset 90 degrees and refitted

[rigel5]

it only has a payload of 4kg what solar scope weighs less than 4kg