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To a large extent, a telescope is only as good as its
tripod and mounting. A telescope magnifies everything, even
vibration, so if it is not steady, you will not get a clear image.
Altazimuth Mounts
are the simplest and least expensive. It
is suitable for terrestrial
observing and scanning the sky at lower powers of magnification, but it
is not
suitable for prolonged deep sky observations. The reason is
simple. As the earth rotates around its axis, the stationary stars
appear to move across the sky. If you observe them using an altazimuth
mount, they will quickly float out of view.
Equatorial Mounts have special mechanisms
for tracking. A telescope mounted on
an equatorial mount can be aimed at a celestial object and easily guided
either by manual slow motion controls or by an electric clock drive to
follow the object easily across the sky. Such mounts are
essential for deep space observations and astrophotography.
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