Sky-Watcher SolarQuest mount head review

信达SolarQuest赤道仪主机评测

Finding the sun sounds easy, right? Many people think of the sun as big and bright, but it’s actually rather small in the sky — it’s got an angular diameter of just half a degree, in fact, the same as the moon. Put an all-important solar filter on a telescope, and you’re left with the challenge of finding a tiny orange or white circle in a sea of black. Even if you manage to find the sun, nudging a solar telescope back into position every few minutes to keep it in the field of view quickly gets irritating.

找到太阳听起来很简单，不是吗？很多人觉得太阳又大又亮，但它在天空中的视直径其实相当小——仅有0.5度，事实上和月球一样大。给望远镜装上至关重要的太阳滤光片后，难题就来了：要在一片漆黑的视野里找到一个小小的橙白色圆面。就算成功对准了太阳，每隔几分钟就要微调太阳望远镜，把太阳重新移回视场中心，这件事很快就会让人烦躁。

Cue the Sky-Watcher SolarQuest mount, a simple grab-and-go product that exists to solve exactly that problem. Costing around $585/£259-£359 (the latter with a tripod), it is not a general Go-To astronomy mount and it is not trying to be one. It is best understood as a dedicated solar tracking platform for small solar telescopes. That could range from regular telescopes wearing solar filters, most likely during a solar eclipse, to dedicated solar telescopes such as white-light-filtered refractors and H-alpha (Hydrogen-alpha) telescopes designed specifically for viewing the sun.

这时就轮到信达SolarQuest赤道仪登场了。这款简易便携设备正是为解决上述难题而生。售价约585美元/259–359英镑（英镑档位含三脚架），它并非通用的全自动寻星天文支架，本身也无意充当通用赤道仪。更准确地说，它是专为小型太阳望远镜打造的太阳追踪平台。适配设备范围很广：既可以是加装太阳滤光片的普通望远镜（多用于日食观测），也包含专用太阳望远镜，例如白光折射式太阳镜，以及专门用于观测太阳的氢α(H-α)望远镜。

Lightweight and compact mount head

轻量化、紧凑型赤道仪主机

Simple controls make it beginner-friendly

简单的控制使它对初学者友好

Vixen-style saddle suits small solar scopes

维信式鞍座适配小型太阳望远镜

The SolarQuest mount head weighs just 2.9 lbs/1.3 kg, accepts standard 45mm Sky-Watcher/Vixen-style dovetails and can be fitted to a tripod using a 3/8-inch screw. Meanwhile, the optional tripod is lightweight and easily adjustable, with a bubble level and accessory tray. Whatever tripod you use, it’s imperative to get it stable before using the SolarQuest because its ability to track the sun successfully depends on it.

SolarQuest赤道仪主机仅重2.9磅（1.3 千克），支持标准45毫米信达/维信式鸠尾板，可通过3/8英寸螺丝安装在三脚架上。选配三脚架轻量化设计，调节便捷，附带水准泡与配件盘。无论使用哪款三脚架，在启用SolarQuest前务必调稳，赤道仪能否稳定追踪太阳，完全取决于三脚架的稳固程度。

With the optional aluminum tripod — which we used in our review — the total setup is still only around 9.9 lbs/4.05 kg, making it easy to set up inside and carry into the garden. Eclipse chasers travelling abroad will easily be able to store it in a carry-on camera bag.

本次评测所使用的选配铝制三脚架，整套设备总重仍仅约9.9磅（4.05 千克），便于在室内组装，也能轻松搬到庭院使用。远赴海外追日食的爱好者可以直接将整套设备装进相机随身背包携带。

The mount itself has very few controls: A power button and an 8-way sliding switch. A long press of the power button finds the sun, with the second used to make manual adjustments. There are no menus and no alignment tasks.

这款赤道仪的操控部件极少：一枚电源键和一个八向拨动开关。长按电源键即可自动寻日，八向开关用于手动微调。设备无菜单界面，也无需校准操作。

Finds the sun automatically in clear conditions

晴朗环境下可自动寻日

Fine-tuning controls keep the sun centered

微调控件，维持太阳居于视场中心

Works well with solar telescopes

适配太阳望远镜，运行表现良好

At first glance, the promise of the Sky-Watcher SolarQuest mount head is so simple: you level the tripod using its built-in bubble or spirit level and point the attached telescope somewhere to the left of the sun. You then long-press the power button and step back. The built-in GPS calculates the date, time, and location, as well as the sun’s altitude and azimuth. The mount levels the telescope, pauses, then slews to the right altitude. Then its photodiode solar sensor (a small camera) hunts for the solar disc and locks on. In practice, the system gets impressively close to that ideal — but with some small caveats.

乍看之下，信达SolarQuest赤道仪主机的设计理念十分简洁：利用三脚架自带的气泡水平仪调平三脚架，再将装好的望远镜大致对准太阳左侧方向。随后长按电源键，便可静待设备自行运作。内置GPS会计算日期、时间、地理位置以及太阳的高度角与方位角。赤道仪将望远镜调平，短暂停顿后，转动至对应的高度角。之后设备的光电二极管太阳传感器（小型感光组件）搜寻太阳圆面并完成锁定。实际使用时，这套系统的表现已经十分接近理想状态，但仍存在一些小局限。

The sun needs to be in a clear sky, but it doesn’t have to be high. We reviewed the SolarQuest during a summer heatwave, when getting up very early was the only sensible way to observe the sun. Having got up early to take advantage of the cool morning air before the sun rose too high, we feared the SolarQuest would fail to find such a low sun. Luckily, there were no such issues, with SolarQuest taking just under 60 seconds to be perfectly aligned with the sun.

太阳需要位于晴朗无云的天空中，但仰角不必很高。我们在一次夏季热浪期间评测SolarQuest，想要观测太阳，唯一合适的办法就是早起。我们早起，趁着清晨凉爽的空气、太阳尚未升得过高时开展观测，当时还担心SolarQuest无法找到仰角很低的太阳。所幸并未出现这类问题，SolarQuest只用了不到60秒就完成对太阳的精准对准。

For visual observing, that’s transformative. Instead of spending the first part of a session aligning, shadow-aiming and nudging a scope into position, you can be looking at the sun within minutes. However, we did have to use the joypad on the SolarQuest to center the sun. Happily, the controls are very sensitive and move slowly, so we were able to have a perfect view of the sun in under two minutes from pressing the power-on button. That’s impressive.

对于目视观测而言，这一体验堪称革新。观测时无需在前期花费大量时间校准、利用阴影粗定位，再反复微调镜筒就位，短短几分钟内就能开始观测太阳。不过我们还是需要借助SolarQuest的操纵杆把太阳调至视场中心。可喜的是，操控灵敏度高，镜筒移动平缓；从按下开机键算起，不到两分钟就能获得完美的太阳影像，这点令人赞叹。

Accurately tracks the sun

可精准追踪太阳

8x AA batteries are old-fashioned

需8节5号电池，供电方案偏传统

Payload is a limiting factor

有效载荷是一个限制因素

Tracking accuracy is very good, with a tiny adjustment on the joypad required perhaps every few hours. Since it largely follows the sun’s path through the sky, it should be suitable for a total or deep partial solar eclipse, when a crescent sun could confuse the sensor (to be sure, you could cover the sensor during totality so it doesn’t hunt for the sun and try to realign during an eclipsed crescent sun).

追踪精度十分出色，可能每隔数小时才需要用操纵杆做一次微小修正。该赤道仪大体上能够跟随太阳在天空中的运行轨迹，适用于日全食或大程度日偏食观测。（发生日食时，月牙状的太阳有可能干扰传感器；稳妥起见，在全食阶段可以遮盖传感器，避免设备在太阳呈月牙形态时反复搜寻、重新对准目标。）

However accurate it is, this is an alt-az mount. It can track the sun well but it cannot remove field rotation during much longer imaging sessions. For visual use and almost all solar use — including casual video capture — that is not a major issue. However, for long-duration solar imaging and creating time-lapses, it’s a limitation to keep in mind.

无论追踪精度多高，这终究是一台地平式支架。它可以很好地追踪太阳，但在长时间拍摄过程中无法消除视场旋转。对于目视观测以及绝大多数太阳观测场景（包括简易视频录制），这不算大问题。不过若是长时间太阳成像、制作延时摄影，该短板就需要留意。

One practical complaint is the battery compartment. Pop open the door (which detaches and becomes easily lost) and inside is a small plastic cradle that takes eight AA batteries. As if needing to take a trip to a store before being able to use the SolarQuest wasn’t annoying enough, it occurred to me that if I was going to an eclipse, I would need to travel with at least eight more AA batteries as spares — and possibly another 16x for true peace of mind. Not a pleasant prospect. Should any gadget like this be AA battery-powered in the age of Lithium-ion and USB-C? A resounding no. The box includes a 12V DC connection but there’s no cable. It all seems poorly thought through and old-fashioned.

有一处实际使用中的槽点在于电池仓。掀开仓门（仓门可以完全脱落，很容易弄丢），内部是一个塑料电池座，需要装入8节5号电池。使用SolarQuest前还得专门去买电池，这件事本身就够麻烦了；而我想到，如果要外出追日食，至少得额外携带8节5号电池作为备用，想要安心稳妥的话甚至要再多备16节。这实在算不上理想。如今已是锂电池和USB‑C的时代，这类设备还采用5号电池供电是否合适？答案无疑是否定的。包装盒内附带12伏直流供电接口，却没有配套供电线。整体供电方案设计欠考量，显得老旧落伍。

However, the main practical limitation of the SolarQuest is its 8.8 lbs (4 kg) payload, which sets it apart as an accessory for small solar telescopes. At its best when speed and simplicity matter, SolarQuest is a travel-friendly mount ideal for beginners and eclipse chasers seeking to remove a common frustration from solar observing — finding and tracking the sun — without adding complexity. It almost totally succeeds.

但SolarQuest最主要的实际限制是4千克（8.8 磅）的有效载重，这决定了它只能作为小型太阳望远镜的配套设备。这款赤道仪最适合看重快速架设、操作简易的场景；它便携易携，非常适合新手与追日食爱好者，帮助使用者摆脱太阳观测中一项常见难题——寻日与追日，且无需增加操作复杂度。它基本圆满实现了这一目标。

We tried the SolarQuest for about two weeks with both a Celestron Regal M2 spotting scope (with a solar filter attached) for white-light observations of the solar disk and a Skywatcher HelioStar 76mm solar telescope. The latter was used to get some images of the sun in H-Alpha (Hα), in conjunction with a ZWO ASI174MM planetary camera.

我们对SolarQuest进行了约两周测试，搭配了两台设备：一台加装太阳滤光片的星特朗Regal M2观靶镜，用于太阳圆面的白光观测；以及一台信达HelioStar 76毫米太阳望远镜。后者配合ZWO ASI174MM行星相机，用来拍摄氢α波段的太阳图像。

If you need something to support a solar or solar-filtered telescope under 8.8 lbs/4kg, the SolarQuest should be on your radar. It quickly finds the sun and tracks accurately, removing the need for manual alignment. It’s also really compact, operates quietly and has very simple controls.

如果你需要支架承载总重4 千克（8.8 磅）以内的太阳望远镜或是加装太阳滤光片的普通望远镜，SolarQuest 值得纳入备选。它能够快速寻日并精准追踪，省去人工校准步骤。设备体积十分小巧，运行安静，操控极为简便。

The included instructions are poor, the way it’s battery-powered is far from ideal, and it’s limited by its payload capacity, but it’s so easy to use and quick to work that it’s hard to criticize the SolarQuest too harshly — it’s a slick and simple accessory.

配套说明书质量欠佳，电池供电方案远非理想，且受限于载重能力。但它上手简单、启动迅速，很难对SolarQuest苛责过多—— 这是一款精巧简约的配套器材。

There are very few dedicated solar trackers like the Sky-Watcher SolarQuest. However, some star trackers do have a mode where you can choose the sun as the star to track, including the Benro Polaris. Once you’ve entered the sun in the frame using the virtual joystick, the Polaris can automatically track it. Another alternative is an equatorial mount, which, when well aligned, can handle solar observing for longer periods and/or for making time-lapse sequences.

像信达SolarQuest这类专用太阳追踪器产品并不多。不过部分星野赤道仪带有太阳追踪模式，可将太阳选定为追踪目标，百诺 Polaris便是其中一例。借助虚拟操纵杆将太阳置入视场后，Polaris 便可自动追踪太阳。另一类备选方案是赤道仪，在精准对轴的前提下，能够长时间开展太阳观测或拍摄延时序列。