Equatorial Telescope Mounting

or American mounting (so-called because first used in the USA), a telescope mounting in which the polar axis OO terminates in a fork (see Figure 1) which supports the axis of inclination DD and the telescope. Equatorial mounting is used in many large-scale telescopes in the world, such as in the 2.6–meter reflector at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory

Figure 1

of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Sagging of the fork is reduced in some telescopes by enclosing the north end of the fork in a yoke or a yoke with a cylindrical framework which slides over the supports.