Equatorial mount

An equatorial mount is a telescope mount built with one axis, the polar axis, tilted to match the observer's latitude so it points parallel to Earth's rotational axis. Once that axis is aligned toward the celestial pole, an object can be tracked as it appears to move across the sky by turning only that single axis, rather than adjusting both up-down and left-right movement continuously as an altazimuth mount would require.

This matters most for astrophotography, where even short exposures reveal star trailing if the mount is not tracking accurately, and for high-power planetary or lunar viewing, where objects drift out of the field quickly at strong magnification. Many equatorial mounts pair a manual slow-motion control with an optional motor drive that tracks automatically once polar alignment is complete.

The tradeoff is a steeper learning curve than a simple altazimuth setup, since polar alignment takes practice and the mount often needs counterweights to balance a telescope properly. When buying, match the mount's weight capacity to the telescope and any camera gear with some margin to spare, since an undersized mount vibrates in the wind and struggles to track smoothly even when alignment itself is done correctly.