A Poncet Platform or Poncet mount is a telescope mount that uses a simple polar pivot and an equatorial plane underneath a "platform" that allows any device sitting on that platform to track astronomical objects in the sky on an equatorial axis.
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Origins and usage
The Poncet Platform was invented in the 1970's by Adrien Poncet. Poncet's design was a very simple type of equatorial platform that uses pivot as one support and an incline plane in line with the Earth's equator along which two other supports slide. It has been produced in other modified forms, sometime adding radius bearing surfaces in place of the incline plane making it similar in structure to a horseshoe mount that has been "cut flat". [1] It is usually used with altazimuth mounted telescopes, such as a low profile equatorial mount for Dobsonian telescopes, but has also been used for everything from small cameras to entire observatory buildings.[2]. Poncet Platforms are usually designed to track for 1 hour (15° of tilt) since longer tracking could cause the instrument on top of it to topple off.[3]
Variations
Other equatorial platform variations similar to this design include Alan Gee's platform mount using a cylindrical bearing and a pivot, and Georges D'Autume's which uses conical bearings in place of a pivot.
References
External links
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