Mounts

• Telescope mount
  Telescope mount
  A telescope mount is a mechanical structure which supports a telescope. Telescope mounts are designed to support the mass of the telescope and allow for accurate pointing of the instrument...
  
   - Types include:
  • Altazimuth mount
    Altazimuth mount
    An altazimuth or alt-azimuth mount is a simple two-axis mount for supporting and rotating an instrument about two mutually perpendicular axes; one vertical and the other horizontal. Rotation about the vertical axis varies the azimuth of the pointing direction of the instrument...
    
    
  • Equatorial mount
    Equatorial mount
    An equatorial mount is a mount for instruments that follows the rotation of the sky by having one rotational axis parallel to the Earth's axis of rotation. This type of mount is used for astronomical telescopes and cameras...
    
    
    • Equatorial platform
      Equatorial platform
      An equatorial platform or equatorial table is an equatorial telescope mount in the form of a specially designed platform that allows any device sitting on it to track astronomical objects in the sky on an equatorial axis. They are used to give equatorial tracking to any device sitting on them, from...
      
      
      • Poncet Platform
        Poncet Platform
        A Poncet Platform or Poncet mount is a type of equatorial platform that uses a simple polar pivot and an inclined plane. The motion of the mount allows any device sitting on that platform to track the apparent motion of the stars in the night sky...
        
        
    • Fork mount
    • German equatorial mount
    • Springfield mount

Optics

• Primary lens The largest and most important lens on a refractor telescope.
• Coma corrector or Corrector Plate: Initial image focus and color correction to some reflector style telescopes.
• Primary mirror
  Primary mirror
  A primary mirror is the principal light-gathering surface of a reflecting telescope.-Description:The primary mirror of a reflecting telescope is a spherical or parabolic shaped disks of polished reflective metal , or in later telescopes, glass or other material coated with a reflective layer...
  
   The larger and most important element of reflector.
• Secondary mirror
  Secondary mirror
  A secondary mirror is the second deflecting or focusing mirror element in a reflecting telescope. Light gathered by the primary mirror is directed towards a focal point typically past the location of the secondary. Secondary mirrors in the form of an optically flat diagonal mirror are used to...
  
  
• Mirror#Instruments
• Curved mirror
  Curved mirror
  A curved mirror is a mirror with a curved reflective surface, which may be either convex or concave . Most curved mirrors have surfaces that are shaped like part of a sphere, but other shapes are sometimes used in optical devices...
  
  
• Honeycomb mirror
  Honeycomb mirror
  A honeycomb mirror is a large mirror usually used as the primary mirror in astronomical reflecting telescopes whose face is supported by a ribbed structure that resembles a honeycomb. The design provides sufficient rigidity for ultra-high precision optics while reducing the weight of the mirror...
  
  
• Liquid mirror
  Liquid mirror
  Liquid mirror telescopes are telescopes made with a reflective liquid. The most common liquid used is mercury, but other liquids will work as well . The container for the liquid is rotating so that the liquid assumes a paraboloidal shape. A paraboloidal shape is precisely the shape needed for the...
  
  
• Parabolic reflector
  Parabolic reflector
  A parabolic reflector is a reflective device used to collect or project energy such as light, sound, or radio waves. Its shape is that of a circular paraboloid, that is, the surface generated by a parabola revolving around its axis...
  
  

• Field lens
  Field lens
  In imaging optics, a field lens is a positive-powered lens or group of lenses that comes after the objective lens and before the image plane or the eyepiece, serving to change the size of the image, or to provide image-space telecentricity....
  
   A correcting lens placed between the secondary mirror and the objective.
• Focal Reducer Reduces the telescope's focal length and magnification, usually by a fixed percentage, and widens the field of view. This may also assist as a coma corrector.
• Star Diagonal
  Star diagonal
  A star diagonal is an angled mirror or prism used in telescopes that allows viewing from a direction that is perpendicular to the usual eyepiece axis. It allows more convenient and comfortable viewing when the telescope is pointed at, or near the zenith . Also, the resulting image is right side...
  
   Used to change the angle of the light coming out of a telescope, for easier viewing.
• Herschel Wedge
  Herschel Wedge
  A Herschel Wedge or Herschel prism is an optical prism used in solar observation to refract most of the light out of the optical path, allowing safe visual observation.-Overview:...
  
   Similar to a star diagonal with a wedge shaped un-silvered prism reflector that reduces incoming light by up to 95% for solar viewing.
• Barlow lens
  Barlow lens
  The Barlow lens, named for its creator, the English engineer Peter Barlow, is a diverging lens which, used in series with other optics in an optical system, increases the effective focal ratio of an optical system as perceived by all components after it in the system...
  
   Increases the telescope's focal length and magnification, and narrows the field of view.
• Astronomical filter
  Astronomical filter
  An astronomical filter is sometimes a telescope accessory used by amateur astronomers to simply enhance the details of celestial objects...
  
   Used to select specific colors (or light frequencies) for astrophotography.
• Filter wheel One manner to easily insert filters into the optical train. Mostly used for photography.
• Eyepiece
  Eyepiece
  An eyepiece, or ocular lens, is a type of lens that is attached to a variety of optical devices such as telescopes and microscopes. It is so named because it is usually the lens that is closest to the eye when someone looks through the device. The objective lens or mirror collects light and brings...
  
   Performs the final focus correction before the light hits the eye.
• Objective (optics)
  Objective (optics)
  In an optical instrument, the objective is the optical element that gathers light from the object being observed and focuses the light rays to produce a real image. Objectives can be single lenses or mirrors, or combinations of several optical elements. They are used in microscopes, telescopes,...
  
   General article on the final optical stage.
• Charge-coupled device#Usage in astronomy The picture-taking element of a digital camera.

• Metallizing
  Metallizing
  Metallizing is the general name for the technique of coating metal on the surface of non-metallic objects.Techniques for metallization started as early as mirror making. In 1835, Justus von Liebig discovered the process of coating a glass surface with metallic silver, making the glass mirror one of...
  
   A way of coating mirrors for high-efficiency light reflection.
• Optical coating
  Optical coating
  An optical coating is one or more thin layers of material deposited on an optical component such as a lens or mirror, which alters the way in which the optic reflects and transmits light. One type of optical coating is an antireflection coating, which reduces unwanted reflections from surfaces, and...
  
   Thin layers applied to mirrors, filters, and lenses to avoid reflections, as well as absorb certain colors.

Software and control interfaces

• Active optics
  Active optics
  Active optics is a technology used with reflecting telescopes developed in the 1980s, which actively shapes a telescope's mirrors to prevent deformation due to external influences such as wind, temperature, mechanical stress...
  
  
• Adaptive optics
  Adaptive optics
  Adaptive optics is a technology used to improve the performance of optical systems by reducing the effect of wavefront distortions. It is used in astronomical telescopes and laser communication systems to remove the effects of atmospheric distortion, and in retinal imaging systems to reduce the...
  
  
• PLate OPtimizer
  PLate OPtimizer
  PLate OPtimizer, or PLOP is a CAD program used by amateur telescope makers to design primary mirror support cells for reflecting telescopes. It was developed by telescope maker David Lewis, first described in 1999, and used to simplify calculations needed in the design of mirror support cells...
  
  
• Versatile Real-Time Executive
  Versatile Real-Time Executive
  Versatile Real-Time Executive is a real-time operating system nowadays developed and marketed by the company Mentor Graphics. VRTX is suitable for both traditional board-based embedded systems and SoC architectures....