Equatorial Mounts

An equatorial mount tilts one axis to match the Earth's rotation, so once it is polar aligned, tracking is a single-axis job and the field does not rotate underneath the target. That is what makes long-exposure astrophotography and comfortable high-power planetary viewing possible.

The Explore Scientific mounts here run from a manual head to motorized PMC-Eight systems with GoTo. If you would rather set up fast and skip polar alignment, start with the wider mounts and tripods range.

Balance yours in both axes before the first session, or the drive fights the load all night. Our guide to balancing an equatorial mount covers right ascension first, then declination.