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Telescope in Tenerife


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Does anyone know anyone who could borrow a telescope in Tenerife, not for free of course?

I am not Spanish, but could not find any service.

I am planning to go there for a trip with the main objective to watch the sky.

This would save me a trouble to arrange a transport of the equipment from UK.

Thank you

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I would doubt that on Tenerife you would find such a service, it is not exactly big and people go to sit on a beach.

You may have already tried but an email to Mt Teida Observatory might be useful, I suppose that if a sort of "rent-a-scope" is available they would be the ones to know.

They run visits and I assume enable the public to observe, however I would suspect through their own scopes that remain at the observatory.

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I'm not sure what your seeing limits are from London, but if Tenerife is so much better,  then as a proving ground alone, you will want to take all your kit with you?  that is, if you can get away from the street lights and city glow ?

Plan early to get your kit stowed, or dwell on what could have been,  take some binoculars instead,  and enjoy the Sunnier side of the holiday!

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im off to Tenerife next September after looking throu excursions they do a trip up mt tiede or wotever its called where you can watch sun set & then get a tour of the stars as they appear, your up at around 7000 feet apparently so should be worthwhile trip, gunna take my travelscope & canon to try catch some views :grin:

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I've just looked into this with regard to Portugal trips.  After some months of investigation, I can find no way to rent gear, and no economical way to take my main scope (9.25" SCT).  The solution is to buy a smaller travelscope.

The general consensus for a travelscope is to go for a small refractor, usually an 80mm or smaller.  These are small enough to go in hand luggage, and light enough (2 - 3 Kg) to be mounted on a collapsible, portable camera tripod mounts.  Being refractors, the light throughput is higher in percentage terms than a reflector, SCT or Mak.

The ED (extra low dispersion) refractors have a great reputation (such as the Explore Scientific, Skywatcher and Orion ED80s).  They give great, sharp,wide field, low-mag views so can be used for viewing the whole width of the Milky Way, as well as increasing magnification for globs, double stars, and even planets (though they'll won't be as good at planets as a long focal length like an SCT).  People also use them at home, for both imaging and viewing.

You want some kind of portable mount to go with it, so you don't have to transport a traditional astronomy tripod.  I have a thread going here about this very subject (I have gone for a heavier ED80 Triplet, so I need to support 4Kgs of weight).  http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/249280-travel-mount-and-tripod-for-small-frac/

ED80s on camera mounts double as great grab and go scopes, so if you're at home and there's a gap in the cloud that's only going to last 20-30 mins, these are very useful to have.  My (heavy) ED80 Triplet set up with hefty 2" Televue lenses, plus tripod and geared head weighs less than 8Kg fully set up - so it's easy to leave it assembled and carry it out when the clouds break.

Your other option is to get a good pair of astronomy binoculars, either handheld 8 x 40 or 10 x 50, or a 15 x 70 and a monopod.  These will give nice stereo wide field views, though you can't change the magnification.

Cheers

Fish

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What do you think about Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the nearby island La Palma? I am sure there is a way to bribe these Spaniards to give me access to the biggest telescope.

Spectacular to visit.

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