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In the largest telescopes, the mass and cost of an equatorial mount is prohibitive and they have been superseded by computer-controlled altazimuth mounts. [5] The simple structure of an altazimuth mount allows significant cost reductions, in spite of the additional cost associated with the more complex tracking and image-orienting mechanisms. [6]
Equatorial mounts differ from mechanically simpler altazimuth mounts, which require variable speed motion around both axes to track a fixed object in the sky. Also, for astrophotography , the image does not rotate in the focal plane , as occurs with altazimuth mounts when they are guided to track the target's motion, unless a rotating erector ...
Altazimuth, altitude-azimuth, or alt-az mounts allow telescopes to be moved in altitude (up and down), or azimuth (side to side), as separate motions. This mechanically simple mount was used in early telescope designs and until the second half of the 20th century was used as a "less sophisticated" alternative to equatorial mounts since it did ...
In an altazimuth mount of a telescope, ... is the angle between the object and the observer's local horizon. For visible objects, it is an angle between 0° and 90 ...
The altazimuth mount does have its own limitations. Un-driven altazimuth mounted telescopes need to be "nudged" every few minutes along both axes to compensate for the rotation of the Earth to keep an object in view (as opposed to one axis for un-driven equatorial mounts), an exercise that becomes more difficult with higher magnifications. [11]
A theodolite (/ θ i ˈ ɒ d ə ˌ l aɪ t /) [1] is a precision optical instrument for measuring angles between designated visible points in the horizontal and vertical planes. The traditional use has been for land surveying , but it is also used extensively for building and infrastructure construction , and some specialized applications such ...
The Meade LX200 is a family of commercial telescopes produced by Meade Instruments launched in 1992 with 8" (20.32 cm) and a 10" (25.4 cm) Schmidt–Cassegrain models on computerized altazimuth mounts. [1] [2] Two larger models, a 12" (30.48 cm) and a 16" (40.64 cm), quickly followed.
Like a standard equatorial mount, equatorial GoTo mounts can track the night sky by driving the right ascension axis. Since both axes are computer controlled, GoTo technology also allows telescope manufacturers to add equatorial tracking to mechanically simpler altazimuth mounts .