Equatorial Mounts

Looking for an equatorial mount but have questions? Check out our helpful Equatorial Mount Guide below!

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Equatorial Mount Guide

An equatorial mount, or EQ mount for short, is a type of telescope mount designed to track celestial objects as they move across the sky. Equatorial mounts are the best telescope mounts for astrophotography. Unlike an altazimuth mount, an equatorial telescope mount fully compensates for the Earth's rotation, ensuring that your targets remain centered in the field of view. This lets you capture long exposure images without stars blurring from the rotation of the Earth.

A few common types of equatorial mountsA few common types of equatorial mounts

Equatorial Mount Payload Capacity

The most important feature of any equatorial mount is its payload capacity. This is the weight capacity that the mount can carry, and is listed in pounds or kilograms. For deep sky astrophotography, plan to keep your total payload at roughly half of your mount’s payload capacity. This will allow it to perform much better than pushing it near its limits.

Keep in mind that your payload includes anything you’re mounting to the top of the mount. That includes your telescope, camera, optical accessories like reducers, flatteners, or coma correctors, a smart camera controller, filter wheel/drawer, filters, cables, guiding accessories, and more. Keep in mind that the higher a mount’s payload capacity, the larger and heavier it will likely be.

Be sure to figure out what the total weight of your telescope rig (including accessories) will be before you purchase an equatorial mount. Then, you can make an informed buying decision based on the mount's payload capacity, as it should be close to double the weight of your telescope rig.

 

Types of Equatorial Mounts

There are many different types of equatorial mounts, but here are the most common types:

German Equatorial Mount

A German Equatorial Mount including the mount head and counterweightA Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro German Equatorial Mount including the mount head and counterweights

Also known as a GEM, a German Equatorial Mount uses a counterweight to balance the telescope's weight, reducing the strain on the motor and making it easier to move the telescope smoothly. These are some of the most common types of GoTo equatorial mounts and work extremely well, but are typically quite heavy.


Harmonic Drive Mount

A ZWO AM5 Hybrid Equatorial & Alt-Azimuth Mount HeadA ZWO AM5 Harmonic Drive Hybrid Equatorial & Alt-Azimuth Mount Head

These mounts are rapidly rising in popularity thanks to their ability to carry many times their weight. Harmonic Drive Mounts utilize strain wave gears, which unlike German Equatorial Mounts, don’t always require counterweights to use. This makes Harmonic Drive Mounts much more lightweight and portable than their GEM cousins. Many harmonic drive mounts are also hybrid mounts, meaning they can operate as both an equatorial mount or an altazimuth mount which is ideal for visual observing.


Star Tracker Mount

A Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Pro Star Tracker Equatorial MountA Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Pro Star Tracker Equatorial Mount

Star trackers are essentially miniaturized German Equatorial Mounts. These small mounts are designed to carry a smaller payload like a small telescope or lens. Star trackers are excellent for photographing the Milky Way or wide field objects. Because of their smaller size, they’re also a lot more affordable, but most of them cannot adequately carry telescopes heavier than a few pounds.

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