A beginner's guide to telescope mounts

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If you have been following our blog, you will know I have been periodically posting about my beginning foray into the world of amateur astronomy.  I have bought a Newtonian reflector telescope which I intend taking everywhere with us on our travels in Bryony, our Autosleepers Broadway EB. 

This is my third post on the subject. The other two posts can be accessed here

‘The wonders of astronomy’ at

‘What you need to know about telescopes before choosing one’ at

 

In today’s post I look briefly at what you need to know about telescope mounts before choosing one for your new telescope. 

 All telescope mounts do the same job. They point your telescope to a chosen spot in the sky and smoothly track it; and they keep your telescope stable. There are two components to a telescope mount – the ‘tripod’ and the ‘mount head’.

Good mount and tripod stability is critical. A decent mount and tripod will stop your telescope from shaking; at high magnification, every wobble and tremor is intensely amplified making your image almost unviewable. So, whatever type of mount you opt for, it must ensure the telescope is held rock solid otherwise you will end up ceaselessly frustrated.

A good mount will also allow your telescope to move smoothly; critical given that celestial objects seem to be moving fast above you (actually they aren’t moving, they stand still - it is the earth below your feet that rotates fast on its axis). To keep an object centred in your eyepiece field of view you will need to move your telescope frequently in very small amounts. Smooth movement is essential in two axes. Whether you have a mount with large knobs and flexible metal rods or one with an electric motor controlled by a handset and buttons, smooth, regulated motion and the ability to do precise small adjustments is essential. 

 

There are two types of telescope mount:

Altitude-Azimuth mounts (known as Altaz)

Equatorial mounts

 

Altitude-Azimuth (Altaz) mounts

These are the simplest mounts and have two axes of rotation

·        Azimuth – the mount spins horizontally clockwise and anticlockwise in a full 360 degree circle

·        Altitude – the mount allows your telescope to be elevated in the vertical towards an upright position from horizontal (0 degrees) to vertical (90 degrees)

To point an Altaz mount to a celestial object, you just adjust the controls to rotate and raise the telescope. Like turning your head to view something. Simple and quick.

 

The simplest Altaz mount is a Dobsonian mount. This has a rotating base and a separate tilting optical tube assembly that sits loosely on the base.  Thus, a Dobsonian mounted telescope can be easily split into two parts for transporting and storing.

This mount keeps the telescope steady and lets it move smoothly. It does not have to be aligned with the sky or pointed in a particular direction and they come in at a relatively low weight and cost.

 

Some Altaz mounts are GOTO mounts. These have motors on the Altaz axes which connect to an onboard computer database of celestial objects. The mount locates an object and points your telescope at it after an alignment process has been completed; then it continues to track the object until you tell the computer otherwise. You can choose the speed and slew rate of movement to a target in the sky. Some come with a dual encoder which allows you to manually move the mount and telescope into position without recourse to the use of the computerized database.

Often single arm mounts, they will come with ports for connecting the GOTO hand controller and external power supplies. Some mounts have battery compartments as well. And, some GOTO systems can be controlled wirelessly from your mobile smartphone using an app. (My new telescope is a WiFi computer GOTO one - https://www.firstlightoptics.com/az-goto/sky-watcher-star-discovery-150i.html )

GOTO systems can save time, cutting out all the movement/setting up time of a manual mount system. They are very good for quickly locating very faint deep space objects (which normally take considerable skill and practice to locate).

Dobsonian mounts can be fitted with GOTO systems and some now come with ‘push-to’ technology which tells you which way to push your telescope so that it ends up pointing at your intended target.

If your main interest is simply viewing the night sky and taking short videos of solar system targets then a GOTO Altaz system could be a good beginner choice of mount.

(Some manufacturers produce equatorial wedges for their Altaz mounts which turn them into equatorial mounts (see below) and some mounts are dual fork mounts where a larger aperture telescope is supported between two arms, thereby spreading the weight of the tube more evenly between them).

 

Equatorial mounts (EQ)

EQ mounts are extremely popular and that is partly down to how the night sky is charted as a ‘celestial sphere’. (Imagine the stars are mapped on the inside surface of a model globe and within the internal centre of this globe is a freely suspended tennis ball, representing Earth). The ‘celestial sphere’ has an axis of rotation that runs from the ‘North Celestial Pole’ down through the Earth’s axis and out the other side to a ‘South Celestial Pole’. Because the earth rotates, the objects seen on the ‘celestial sphere’ move across the sky, from east to west above us, as the night progresses.

 

Now, if I have understood EQ mounts correctly, if you want to find a celestial object you need its co-ordinates – think like a latitude and longitude equivalent. There are two:

RA – Right ascension

Dec – Declination.

EQ mounts have one axis (the polar or RA axis) parallel to the Earth’s rotational axis (and therefore aligned to the rotation of the celestial sphere). The telescope can then track the apparent movement of the stars across the ‘celestial sphere’ night sky in an arc following the rotation of the sky.

So why are EQ mounts so popular? What, all astronomers need to do to track a celestial object and keep it within the eyepiece field of view, is to rotate the polar axis at the same rate as the earth rotates, either manually, or by using a motor driven mount or adjusting the controls.

A good overview of how to set up an EQ mount can be found here https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/equatorial-mounts-an-astronomers-guide/

 

So as a beginner new to astronomy, how should you go about choosing a mount for your new telescope?

1.   Do what I did. Go to a reputable dealer and seek their advice; and find a local astronomy club and see if they have a public liaison officer who can offer advice as well

2.   If you buy your telescope from a good dealer it will normally come packaged with a mount and a tripod; if it doesn’t, a good dealer will recommend a series of appropriate mounts and tripods for the telescope you have bought

3.   The kind of observing and celestial objects you wish to view may help you decide on an appropriate mount. If you aim to do mainly visualisation of faint objects, go for a simple, less expensive mount design (such as an Altaz or Dobsonian) and save the money for better quality optics.

4.   Think about how portable you need your mount to be - the bigger and heavier the mount, the more difficult it will be to get it to a viewing site

5.   Similarly, try to think ahead as to what your requirements might be in the future. Can the mount be adapted for astrophotography? If you buy a new telescope in the future, will it fit the mount you have?

 

I hope that some of you have been inspired to think about whether amateur astronomy might be a hobby you want to pursue whilst motorhoming. In the next blog post on the subject, I will summarise what I have learned thus far about the importance of understanding the role of the eyepiece that comes with your telescope.

In the meantime, wherever you are, stay safe, have fun an remember, ‘take care out there’.

Steve