# Tracking

Also called: equatorial platform, sidereal tracking.

Moving a telescope to follow the sky's rotation, so objects stay in view.

The sky turns 15° an hour, so at 200× a planet crosses the field in a minute or two. Motorised mounts track automatically; Dobsonians can sit on an equatorial platform that tracks for about an hour. Without tracking, you nudge the telescope every so often.

**Related:** [Mount](https://astropilot.space/glossary/mount.md), [Dobsonian](https://astropilot.space/glossary/dobsonian.md), [True field of view](https://astropilot.space/glossary/true-field.md)

From the AstroPilot astronomy glossary: https://astropilot.space/glossary/tracking