How do you track a star in the night sky for a long period of time using an optical telescope or camera?
In: Engineering
Tracking is simply moving the telescope at the same rate that the sky rotates, this can be done as described in other comments by alligning the axis of rotation with the axis of rotation of the Earth or by rotating around 2 different axis.
There is also guiding which is used by higher end setups where you use a seperate telescope and camera mounted to the first and actively correct the tracking by ensuring a target/guide star stays at the same point in the guide scope. Observatories normally also have high powered lasers they can use in the event there are no suitable natural guide stars.
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