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equatorial mount
(redirected from Equatorial mounting)

    Also found in: Medical, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.04 sec.
equatorial mount
A mounting for astronomical telescopes having two axes, one of which revolves about an axis that is parallel to the axis of the Earth's rotation. This axis can be driven by a motor at a rate equal to the diurnal motion of the celestial object being viewed, allowing the telescope to keep the object in view for long periods without adjustment. The other axis, perpendicular to the first, has free movement that allows the telescope to be pointed anywhere in the sky. Compare altazimuth mount.


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Usually optical telescopes have been hung in what is called an equatorial mounting, with one rotation axis parallel to the plane of the celestial equator and the other parallel to theline between the celestial north and south poles.
First telescope with active optics by Thomsen, Dietrick E. / Science News
However, the telescope has to be hung at an angle to the vertical, and in the case of an arrangement as bulky as the NNTT, an equatorial mounting would impose torques and shears that the system couldn't sustain.
NNTT's next generation: harmonizing a quartet of large telescopes by Thomsen, Dietrick E. / Science News
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