Equatorial Mount
To put it simply, an equatorial mount allows you to follow objects as the earth
rotates, which causes those objects to seem to move through the sky. The
equatorial mount is set at your latitude (lmine is 33° North), and then is
polar-aligned (to either the North Celestial Pole in the Northern Hemisphere or
the South Celestial Pole in the Southern Hemisphere). After that, you just need
to move the telescope, usually via it's slow-motion control cables or dials, in
either Right Ascension (east to west movement of the stars, or celestial
latitude) or Declination (north-south movement of the stars, or celestial
longitude) to follow a planet or deep-sky object as it slowly moves through the
field of view as seen through your eyepiece. This type equatorial mount is a
bit more bulky than an altazimuth design, but it is desirable in that you can
usually attach an optional motor to the equatorial mount, which counteracts the
earth's rotation automatically. An equatorial mount also comes standard with a
tripod attached.
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