Alignment of SCT for solar viewing

[mike.wiseman (Mike)]

If I want to use my Celestron EdgeHD 8 SCT with a solar filter, is there a way to align the mount for solar tracking during daylight, or is it necessary to use the StarSense camera at night for alignment and then leave it parked and covered but ready for the next day?

[N1 (Mirko)]

Can you drive it to the sun manually then tell it to track? That would seem easiest, but depends what mount you have I suppose

[Drac0 (Mark)]

If you're using a Celestron mount you can use solar system align & select the sun. You will probably have to go into the menu first and allow the sun to appear in the solar align list, it doesn't appear by default as a safety measure.


And remember to select Solar as the tracking mode...

[mike.wiseman (Mike)]

ok, thanks.
I'll try that.

PS yes it's Celestron alt-Az mount

[The_bluester (Paul)]

Just remember to remove the finder scope (Safer than leaving it mounted) and you can align to the sun by motoring the scope around (With the full aperture filter already fitted obviously) and watch the shadow of the scope on the ground to line it up.