About Telescopes

Telescope Mounts

Mounts are invaluable in not only taking the weight of the telescope - even a light device can become heavy and cumbersome after a few hours - but in positioning the telescope and keeping it in a steady position allowing it to remain fixed on a set position in the sky. They also free up you hands for keeping records and adjusting the telescope to focus on a new object.

There are two differing types of mount. 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 this type of mount. The Ball and Socket allows for movement in all directions. The Rocker Box is made of plywood and consists of a horizontal circular base and Teflon ball bearings that act as the altitude axis. They 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 so follow a fixed object across the sky as long as it is lined up properly.

Again there are two kinds 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. The fork mount is as its name suggests, 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. Equatorial mounts are excellent for taking pictures as they allow for long exposures.