Altazimuth mounting

Altazimuth Mounting
Related Category: Astronomy: General
(ltz´mth): see telescope.
More on Altazimuth Mounting ...

altazimuth mounting
A telescope mounting, also known as an alt-azimuth mount, that allows up and down pivoting (changes in altitude, or elevation, from 0° to 90°) together with horizontal rotation (changes in azimuth by ± 180°).

Altazimuth mounting- a telescope mounting that swings from side to side parallel to the horizon, and up and down
Angstrom unit- the hundred-millionth part of a centimeter (10-10 m) ...

altazimuth mounting - a mounting with two axes, to allow movement in both horizontal and vertical planes, used with telescopes, antennas and precise surveying instruments.

Altazimuth mountings tend to be cheaper, lighter, less clumsy, and more quickly set up than equatorial ones, but to use one you must be willing to learn the sky well enough to find things without dialling in celestial coordinates.

A Newtonian telescope placed on a simple altazimuth mounting is known as a Dobsonian.

Now that computer controlled drive systems can be made which allow constantly varying drive rates to be used on two axes, we can use the much simpler Altazimuth mounting, which has a vertical and a horizontal axis.

See also: Azimuth, Astronomy, Telescope, Equator, Rotate