[Outbackmanyep]

Originally Posted by Matty P

I don't like the idea of leaving my scope (powered on) outside overnight exposed to the elements. It would be nice to have an observatory.

My scope does have a hibernate function, but going back to what I said before. I really dislike the idea of leaving the scope outside with no protection.

Is there any other way of aligning the scope in daylight?

When i was looking for P1 last year,i used my solar filter, aligned on the sun (but i am assuming you aligned the night before) and using the co-ordinates of the sun on the particular day in question, using software or whatever, set your RA setting circle to the marks on the base consistent with the sun's co-ordinates....Then i go by setting circles, low power eyepiece, remove solar filter and find the general area then scan......try to find something like Venus, then you can check alignment using drift...and everything else should be sweet!

I used the Sun & Venus to help me find P1, i found the sun, set my circles, then found Venus, checked my setting circle measurement against known literature (namely Astronomy 2007) and went from there, it worked fine!
Just have to be careful when looking in the vicinity of the sun!