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Telescopes on Amazon

Galileo FS-80/K-800 800 x 80mm Yoke Mount Reflector Telescope
Amazon Price: $79.99
Customer Review: This telescope is my more like a toy. It's large but also very light and unstable. We tried for several hours to use it with bad to medium results. Mostly bad. The software is...
 
Celestron 31042 AstroMaster 114 EQ Reflector Telescope
Amazon Price: Too low to display
Customer Review: I bought this as a Christmas gift for myself and my 7 year old son (OK, mostly for me). It's put together very well. As a Newtonian, its hollow, which makes it feel somewhat odd,...
 
Celestron 31045 AstroMaster 130 EQ Reflector Telescope
Amazon Price: Too low to display
Customer Review: I gave this telescope to my fiance for Christmas and he loves it. He never had a telescope before, but he was able to find things with it still, so it was "beginner friendly". Ov...
 
Meade 90 Az-Adr 90mm A-Series Alt-Azimuth Refractor Telescope
Amazon Price: Too low to display
Customer Review: This was easy to assemble and easy to use. The quality seems quite sturdy and professionally made. A real scientific instrument, at a reasonable price for the beginner astronomer...
 

Hubble: Imaging Space and Time
by David Devorkin, Robert Smith
Amazon Price: $31.50
Customer Review: This book is absolutely wonderful for anyone remotely interested in space exploration. Not only are the photos beautiful but the book itself is an informative and detailed guide to...
 
Sky & Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas
by Roger W. Sinnott
Amazon Price: $13.57
Customer Review: A great sky atlas, perfectly detailed and colorful. I often use it rather that the large format atlas I also have.

Philippe Barraud
 
Turn Left at Orion: A Hundred Night Sky Objects to See in a Small Telescope--...
by Guy Consolmagno, Dan M. Davis
Amazon Price: $18.47
Customer Review: This book got so many great reviews I had to buy it. It is a good book for a beginner for finding many targets to view with a small telescope, but I much prefer Night Watch. This i...
 

Telescope Mounts

Mounts are invaluable, in not only taking the weight of the telescope - for even the lightest device can become heavy and cumbersome after a few hours - but in positioning the telescope and keeping it steady.

By mounting telescopes, the instrument can remain fixed on a set position in the sky. This also frees up your hands, so you can keep records and more easily adjust the telescope when focusing on a new object.

There are two differing types of telescope mounts. The Alt-Azimuth enables you to alter the vertical (altitude) and horizontal (azimuth) axes to locate an object in the sky, but is otherwise similar to a camera tripod.

There are two kinds of the Alt-Azimuth mounts. The Ball and Socket mount which allows for movement in all directions. And the Rocker Box, which is made of plywood and consists of a horizontal circular base and Teflon ball bearings that act as the altitude axis. These have a low center of gravity and are excellent for heavier telescopes.

The second type of mount, the Equatorial, uses two axes, which line up with the poles to track an object through the night sky. The axes can be either right ascension, polar or declination depending on the object you are trying to track. The axes of equatorial mounts are towards the Earth’s axis of rotation and thus can follow a fixed object across the sky as long as it is lined up properly.

Again there are two styles of this type of mount. The German equatorial mount, which is shaped like a T with the longer axis of the T lined up with the pole. And then there is the fork mount, which as its name suggests, is shaped like a fork, again lined up with the earth's pole with one axis being the base of the fork and the prongs the other.

If you are planning to take a lot of photos through your telescope, Equatorial mounts for telescope are excellent for taking pictures, as they allow for long exposures.



About the Author:  Scott Harker is the publisher of several websites including: Sherlock Holmes Pastiches, Harvest The Sun | Nature, Find Out About Pets, Science Blog, and Diverticulitis.




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News About Telescope Mounts


Stuff.co.nz

Clear skies of the Mackenzie Country
Stuff.co.nz
New Zealand's largest telescope is also on Mount John. It was locally designed but built in Nagoya, Japan, utilising a Russian-made 1.8-metre reflector. ...

and more »


Transworld Snowboarding.com

Shredding Hawai'i
Transworld Snowboarding.com
We laid down and before we knew it, we were all asleep, right next to this giant telescope. By the time Elena woke us, the light was nearly gone. ...



This Week's Sky at a Glance
Sky & Telescope
Can a computerized telescope take their place? I don't think so — not for beginners, anyway (and especially not on mounts that are less than top-quality ...

and more »


New York Times

WE Gordon, Creator of Link to Deep Space, Dies at 92
New York Times
Tomas van Houtryve/AP The telescope at the Arecibo Observatory, Earth's ear to outer space, has been used to make scores of landmark discoveries. ...

and more »


Christian Science Monitor

Airborne laser shoots down missile in mid-flight
Christian Science Monitor
This airborne laser mounts to the front of a special military 747 jumbo jet. The system successfully shot down a test missile Thursday night. ...

and more »


Astronomy announces 2009 Out-of-this-World Award winner!
Astronomy Magazine
Thanks in part to the Out-of-this-World Award, AOS can afford a new telescope mount and keep the public enthralled with the stars. Linda Prince [View Larger ...


Google News


Telescope Mounts For Sale

Telescope 4x20 Rifle Scope With Free Mounts & Lens Caps
US $5.10
End Date: Tuesday Mar-09-2010 13:31:26 PST
Buy It Now for only: US $5.10
Buy it now | Add to watch list


 
NEW Vixen Optics Telescope Porta Mount w/ Tripod n Box
US $152.45 (2 Bids)
End Date: Tuesday Mar-09-2010 17:03:05 PST
Bid now | Add to watch list


 
New Silver 90mm Refractor Telescope w Tripod EQ Mount
US $249.99 (0 Bid)
End Date: Tuesday Mar-09-2010 17:04:48 PST
Bid now | Add to watch list


 
Celestron Piggyback Camera Mount for SCT Telescope NEW
US $34.99
End Date: Tuesday Mar-09-2010 19:06:32 PST
Buy It Now for only: US $34.99
Buy it now | Add to watch list


 

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