What specific axis adjustment is required to track a celestial object using an aligned Equatorial Mount?
Answer
The Right Ascension axis.
Equatorial mounts are mechanically engineered to align one of their axes parallel to the Earth’s axis of rotation, a process known as polar alignment. Because of this specific orientation, when tracking a celestial object as it appears to move across the sky due to the Earth's rotation, only one continuous adjustment is necessary. This adjustment occurs along the designated rotational axis known as the Right Ascension axis. Often, this smooth, single-axis tracking is facilitated by a slow-motion motor drive, making it vastly more practical for sustained visual observation or astrophotography of deep-sky targets compared to the two-axis adjustments required by Alt-Azimuth mounts.
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