Dovetail Mounting Systems

There are many ways of attaching a telescope to a mount. For some lower-end scopes, the scope is directly bolted to the mount head. For others, the scope's rings, if it uses rings, are directly bolted. For many high-end scopes and mounts, the mounting rings may also be directly bolted to the mount head. But for the majority of amateur telescopes in the mid and higher-end range, the mounting is done through a dovetail bar/plate and saddle method.

Over time, there have been several different specifications for these plates and saddles, with various manufacturers creating their own specifications for use with their equipment. However, over time, a few have become de-facto standards. The most popular such standards are known by the names of the companies that developed or at least popularized them: Vixen, Losmandy, and Synta.

Note: The terms bar, plate, and rail are frequently used interchangeably to describe the portion which fits into the saddle, which will clamp down on the bar/plate/rail.

Vixen

Using the Vixen-style system, the telescope payload (which may include the telescope itself, rings, cameras, finders, etc... ) are attached to a bar that is 43 mm (approximately 1.7 in) wide and 15 mm (0.6 in) high. The length varies depending on the size of the telescope to be attached. The sides of the bar are beveled at an angle of 15° from vertical, giving the bar a dovetail-shaped profile.