Mounts for telescopes come in two main varieties: altazimuth and equatorial (commonly abbreviated to altaz and EQ, respectively). Equatorial mounts allow the telescope to track the sky more accurately than altaz mounts and let you keep objects in view for longer. You can also use an equatorial mount for longexposure astrophotography. Preparing an equatorial mount for the first time can seem complex, but once you know what each part does and have done it a few times, setting one
