Patent ID: 7982951

Claim:
A tracking mount for an astronomical telescope comprising (a) a motionless rigid base; (b) a movable rigid stage; (c) three anchor point pairs, wherein one point of each said anchor point pair is fixed in relationship to said base and the other point of each said anchor point pair is fixed in relationship to said stage; (d) three actuators, wherein each said actuator varies the distance between the points of each said anchor point pair; (e) a passive device, wherein said passive device constrains movement of said stage in such a way that a single fixed point on the base and a single fixed point on the stage are held in coincidence, wherein said passive device does not constrain angular motion of said stage relative to said base about said fixed point; wherein lines drawn between respective said anchor point pairs consist of three substantially orthogonal lines, being oriented along three mutually orthogonal edges of a cube in such a way that no two lines share the same cube face; whereby said stage can move in such a way so as to track celestial bodies.