Aircraft Cabin Baggage Compatible Astronomy

[cs1cjc]

I have now taken a telescope by plane a number of times in the hope of unpolluted, clear skies. Last week, for the first time, my setup went in my cabin baggage, so it fits in a cuboid of 55cm by 40cm by 20cm and weighs less than 10kg. I thought people might be interested in how this is achieved.

The effort is well worthwhile. Last week in five nights in rural France, the skies were wonderfully clear on two mild nights when I got in evening and early morning sessions and I also had a third good evening, though I was defeated quite early by the cold and dew. In total I did over 8 hours viewing, which is more than I sometimes get in a month at home. I was also able to show the night sky to five people who had never used a telescope before. Note that I have not used the word dark to describe the sky, because it was not dark! The Milky Way shone brightly and with Jupiter high in the sky, there enough light to handle equipment without a torch. However, the sky was dark through the telescope and I was able to see faint objects with ease, particularly the Crab Nebula, which I have struggled with here in Derbyshire using much more powerful equipment.

The equipment, with approximate weight in grams, is as follows:

2230 Telescope, IKI 70ED

2460 Mount, Vixen Mini Porta (cut down)

220 Diagonal, 1.25" William Optics

160 Eyepiece 4mm, TMB Planetary II

160 Eyepiece 9mm, TMB Planetary II

180 Eyepiece 25mm, similar design to above

20 Filter, Baader UHC

110 Torch, red LED

380 Star atlas, Sky and Telscope Pocket

180 Spectacles, spare, single vision correction

100 Packing, plastic bags and bubble wrap

6200 Total

The telescope is an IKI 70ED which works well and shows little colour particularly when used with a Baader Fringe Killer which is permanently loaded in the diagonal. However, it is heavier than it might be, largely due to its Crayford focuser. The mount is shortened by 350mm (about a foot) to fit the case, and it is now an inconvenient height for standing to view, but it is comfortable when sitting. The eyepieces are reasonably lightweight and give a reasonable apparent field of view of nearly 60 degrees and have just sufficient eye relief for use with my spectacles. The 25mm has a field stop of 26.4mm to give a true field of view of 3.6 degrees with the 420mm telescope. I use it as the viewfinder having lined the telescope up approximately by squinting along the tube.

Clearly the overall weight is on the high side, particularly when the need for a case and a few clean clothes is taken into account, but some small items can be stuffed in pockets and I am lucky to have a sympathetic partner who is willing to travel light. Possibly the best opportunity for weight reduction is replacing the focuser by a helical one.

I would welcome comments!

[E621Keith]

Nice travelling set up. One can never trust airport baggage handlers and conveyors on fragile items. In fact if a piece of luggage cannot survived a 2 storeys fall, don't have it checked in.

btw what do you mean by shortened Mini Porta? Did you cut the tripod? A photo would be nice.

[hayju01]

Nice! What do the Airport Security say? Do you they make you unpack it all?

[angusb1]

Thanks for this Chris. I've been looking into the same problem of taking a scope on a plane and its handy to see how you have tackled the same problems.

[Nibor]

Chris,

This looks to be a well thought out package and the thread should be of interest to all those interested in a compact travel set up - I shall watch this thread with special interest as I am currently trying to put together a similiar package.

I have narrowed my own telescope choice field down to the following achromatics:-

Any of the three Opticstar scopes AR80 / AR80 gold / AR 90gold

Opticstar telescopes.

Orion Short tube 80..

Orion ShortTube 80-A Refractor Telescope - Telescopes UK: Telescopes & Telescope Accessories in your only London shop

Astronomica's Star Sky 90mm...

Star Sky 90mm Achromatic Refractor

Skywatcher ST 80....

Skywatcher Startravel 80 TableTop Telescope | Telescopes | Rother Valley Optics

The plan would be to use my current photo tripod for the travelling (possibly with a slow motion head) and for home observing use a S/W AZ4, Vixen Mini Porta mount or my current EQ3 2.

There seems to be plenty of cabin luggage cases around the 56 x 45 x 25cm size restrictions but the weight issue does need to be carefully thought through as you have done.

I shall look forward to learning about other folks' set ups and their comments - which I hope will help me choose my own kit!!

[cs1cjc]

btw what do you mean by shortened Mini Porta? Did you cut the tripod? A photo would be nice.

I did indeed cut the tripod down, carefully. Photo of the equipment (minus spectacles) and case ready to be packed, attached.

What do the Airport Security say?

They have said nothing to date. After all it just looks like oddly shaped photographic kit.

[ollypenrice]

I moved permanently from Derbyshire to the clear skies of SE France, Chris! The final solution!!

You have a good setup. Larger scopes can be squeezed on, just. I used to 'cabin baggage' an F5 Genesis in a custom case which didn't hold the diagonal in place. I never worried about the mount going in the hold if it was in a good case.

Olly

[Photosbykev]

A word of caution, some airlines are now limiting carry on baggage to 5kg and it is being weighed, yet another way to rip us off. I still like the effort and thought that has been put into the system though

[cs1cjc]

I never worried about the mount going in the hold if it was in a good case.

I agree. It is the delay and cost associated with hold luggage that has driven me to carry on.

I moved permanently from Derbyshire to the clear skies of SE France, Chris! The final solution!!

A tempting option!

[kirkster501]

I once watched baggage handlers at Malaga literally throwing the smaller pieces of hold luggage - tossing the kyber fashion - from a dude on the ground to a guy in the hold of the plane. He was regualrly missing - an hitting the plane fuselage I hasten to add - and dropping 15 feet to the ground.

Never, ever assume your luggage is well looked after by the airline.

Steve

[ollypenrice]

True, but I've flown with my bicycle over sixty times and not had too many issues. Broken brake lever once, broken spoke. Pretty trivial stuff.

Olly

[gooseholla]

True, but I've flown with my bicycle over sixty times and not had too many issues. Broken brake lever once, broken spoke. Pretty trivial stuff.

Olly

Yeah... but I don't suppose they'd be picking up a bike and lobbing it 15 feet into the air!

[E621Keith]

During a recent visit to an astronomy dealer, I was told one of his customer packed a Solarmax 60 inside the supplied flight case, which was then packed inside the original shipping box and then that was packed inside a suitcase.

The optics survived the flight, only the etalon cracked.