Choosing a beginner’s mount

A few key questions to think about before buying your first telescope mount

How portable does it need to be – will you need to carry the mount? Consider where you’ll be using the mount most. If you’re going to be travelling to a dark-sky site you may find that lugging around a large equatorial mount will become tiresome. A smaller, portable tracking mount or a lightweight altaz setup could be more in line with your requirements, especially if you aren’t up to lifting heavy loads. What sort of observing will you be doing? Your choice of night-sky target may have a bearing on what type of mount you opt for. If you intend to do solely visual observing of faint objects, it’s probably better to opt for a simpler, less expensive, mount design and spend any money you save on bigger or…

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The Astronomer's Yearbook (Digital) - 1 Issue, Astronomer's Yearbook 2021

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