An equatorial mount for providing a telescope with a balanced weight distribution is described. The equatorial mount includes a base, a declination base, and a device support. The declination base is rotatable about a right ascension axis relative to the base. The device support is rotatable about a declination axis relative to the declination base. The declination axis intersects orthogonally with the right ascension axis and the declination axis intersects a midsection of the declination base. The declination base includes a counterweight assembly extending along a counterweight axis, the counterweight axis being spaced away from the declination axis along the right ascension axis.

The present invention relates to a tracking device for tracking and observing or communicating with moving objects in space or in the atmosphere, wherein the present invention is devised to satisfy the aforementioned needs and an object of the present invention is to provide a tracking device of enabling a single mount to change a posture by one of an altitude-azimuth (ALT-AZ) control method, an equatorial control method, and an altitude-altitude (ALT-ALT) control method so as to facilitate the best tracking according to the operation characteristics of a moving object on the celestial sphere by variously controlling an installation angle of a main rotation shaft.

A technique for polar aligning the mount of a telescope or other astronomical instrument includes acquiring star images from an electronic polar scope and determining a location of a celestial pole relative to the star images based on computerized matching of the star images to information in a database. The mount has a right-ascension (RA) axis, and the technique directs an adjustment to the mount so as to align a location of the RA axis with the determined location of the celestial pole.

Disclosed are a method and an astrophotographic apparatus for acquiring images of targets in a sky area. The method includes: step 1, an image acquisition device is driven through a controlled rotatable component to point to the position near a target in a sky area, and images of the sky area are acquired through the image acquisition device; step 2, the images of the sky area are analyzed to obtain the right ascension coordinates and the declination coordinates of the center point of images for synchronizing the coordinates to the controlled rotatable component; step 3, the image acquisition device is driven by the controlled rotatable component to point to a target position of the target right ascension coordinates and the target declination coordinates corresponding to the target celestial body to acquire the images; and step 4, an image processing is performed on the images to obtain the processed images.

A tracking device for use when performing astrophotography comprises a guider camera and at least one tilt stage, with the topmost of the tilt stages arranged to support an astrophotography camera and the guider camera. Actuators are coupled to the tilt stages such that the astrophotography and guider cameras can be tilted about three axes. The guider camera and actuators are connected to electronics which include a computer programmed to operate in a calibration mode and a tracking mode. In calibration mode, a calibration procedure determines the effect of each actuator on the positions of at least two objects within the field-of-view (FOV) of the guider camera. In tracking mode, the actuators are operated as needed to maintain the positions of the at least two objects constant within the said FOV.

An optical communication unit for sending and receiving optical communication signals is described. The optical communication unit includes an optical unit, an elevation drive and an azimuth drive. The optical unit emits and/or receives optical communication signals. The elevation drive is coupled with the optical unit by way of an elevation bearing and swivels the optical unit about an elevation axis. The azimuth drive is coupled with the optical unit and the elevation drive and turns the optical unit together with the elevation drive about an azimuth axis. The elevation axis is arranged eccentrically with respect to the azimuth axis, so that the elevation axis is offset with respect to the azimuth axis by a lateral offset. This allows the optical unit to be swiveled to alongside the azimuth drive, so that a swiveling range of the optical unit is increased.

A telescope mount assembly includes a hub section, a motor assembly, one or more legs extending away from the hub section, and a counterweight coupled to a portion of the hub section. The hub section includes one or more extensions that are each configured to rotate or translate about a fixed axis. The motor assembly is designed to rotate or translate one or more of the extensions. The counterweight includes a battery compartment configured to hold one or more batteries.

A tracking mount for an astronomical equipment includes castellations in a semicircular arrangement at a first end of a base member. The base member has a through hole formed at a radial center of the castellations. Additionally, the tracking mount includes a tracking arm having a shaft extending perpendicular to a long axis of the tracking arm and a set of teeth formed at a position distal to the shaft. The shaft has a notch formed at an end opposite the tracking arm. The shaft is dimensioned to be inserted into the through hole. A coil torsion spring having a crossbar formed at one end is mated with the notch on the shaft. A selector structure formed at another end of the torsion spring is dimensioned to sit within a castellation of the plurality of castellations. Adjusting the position of the selector structure relative to the plurality castellations adjusts the torsion coefficient of the coil torsion spring.

An equatorial mount having a base, a right ascension base, a right ascension shaft, a declination base, a declination shaft, and a mount-rotation mechanism, the declination base rotatable about a right ascension axis relative to the right ascension base, and the declination shaft rotatable about a declination axis relative to the declination axis, wherein the mount-rotation mechanism is engageable and disenagageable from one or the other of the right ascension shaft and the declination shaft, to apply torque between the declination base and that shaft when engaged and to permit relative rotation of the shaft and the declination base when disengaged.

A mount for a telescope incorporates a worm gear assembly comprising: a worm wheel connected to a telescope holder, such that movement of the worm wheel about a wheel axis causes movement of the holder about the wheel axis; and a worm shaft having a worm body extending in a longitudinal direction and a thread extending in a spiral on the worm body around a worm axis orthogonal to the wheel axis. The worm shaft is supported by a base for rotational movement. The worm wheel comprises a plurality teeth for engaging the worm shaft thread, so that rotation of the worm shaft about the worm axis causes corresponding rotation of the worm wheel, and corresponding relative rotation between the holder and the base, about the wheel axis. The wheel body defines a plurality of elasticity-enhancing cutouts spaced apart from the wheel axis and extending through the wheel body.