I guess one could try to use the PST at night or look at Venus, I would not guarantee a person would see anything.
My thought was that unless you have accurate polar alignment don't you need to align on more than one star? So tracking would still depend on accurate polar alignment. When I took the SLAS solar scope to events, using my G-11, I did not need to make a lot of corrections. I usually only needed to adjust scope when someone bumped it. I don't think the manufacturer makes you sign a paper stating that you
will ONLY use the mount during the day with a PST, lol.
GoTo with the capability to initialize using the sun allows tracking during the day. There are no other visible stars to use for alignment. For a portable set-up, this is important, especially when away from a street grid aligned with the compass points, where you could get "close enought" with a non-goto equatorial for short tracking runs.
It's just a convenience, Erik. Kurt pointed out that tracking allows more relaxed solar viewing. GoTo makes alignment a snap in daytime. And, of course it could easily be used at night with a conventional telescope attached.
On Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 10:09 AM, <erikhansen@thebluezone.net> wrote:
Unless you are going to look at other objects, like Venus, is there any reason to have goto on a solar mount? A PST for instance can only be used to view the Sun.
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