Choosing a Mount for Your Telescope

Abstract

It has to be said. A telescope is only as good as the mount it rides on. And although many of the Newtonians and catadioptrics we have discussed in earlier chapters come with their own dedicated mounts, small refractors—which have proven to be enormously popular as grab ‘n’ go telescopes—often come as an optical tube assembly only. Telescope mounts come in a bewildering number of varieties to suit everyone’s budget. Since we are confining ourselves in this book to small, grab ‘n’ go telescopes, we shall only consider those lighter weight mounts currently available on the market.