Tripod mounts? Any recommendations for something simple and portable?

[Saturninus]

Hello All - i'm new to astronomy and am slowly getting myself acquainted to my Celestron Nexstar 8 se. The goto mount is really nice to have, but I'd like to take the scope to remote locations and do things manually every now and then.

I have a very sturdy heavy duty photography tripod that I was hoping to use - does anyone make an alt-az tripod head that can be mounted onto different tripods? This is something that I would like to disassemble and take aboard a plane, so an equatorial mount is out of the question. On the other end of the spectrum, I assume the cheapo pan-tilt heads that are used for video cameras would be useless. I can't seem to find many alternatives on the various online retailer websites.

Any recommendations from those of you who travel a lot with your telescopes?

[jonathan]

The 8SE is not a small or light scope by any means and thus requires a fairly substantial mount regardless of type.  The Goto mount that it came with is at its limit with the 8SE.

If you don't fancy lugging an HEQ5 Pro around then a good alternative is a Vixen Alt-Az mount and tripod.  The Vixen Porta II is about the minimum you would probably want to use the 8SE on, keeping in mind accessories and eyepieces that you might want to fit as well, the SkyTee2 is a beefier option, though with a beefier price tag to match if you get the tripod to go with it.  The tripod can make or break a set up - get a good beefy tripod and your mount will be as solid as it can be, this is why I like the Omni CG-4 mount and tripod, it's very similar in design to the NEQ6 Pro.

Not sure what the baggage limits are like on a plane, you may have to travel light and take a big suit case to fit the tripod and mount in, let alone the OTA (with copious amounts of padding - the original packing it came in is probably the best starting point).  Expect rough handling on the baggage carousel.

Oh...  I doubt a mount would fit a photography tripod, astronomy tripods are more akin to large surveyor tripods really.

[Stu]

Something like a Giro mount might be ok. Am I right on saying the 8SE is over 10kg? You would need a counterbalance bar and weight to keep things smooth and balanced. Might be too much to take on a plane, not sure.

Teleskop Service do them, or at least they did. I can only find the Giro Mini on there at the moment which doesn't have enough load capacity. Will have another look.

http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p1541_Giro-Mini-ultracompact-Azimutal-Mount-for-Phototripods---up-to-9-kgs-load.html

Stu

[jonathan]

The 8SE OTA is apparently about 12 lb, but that could soon rise to 14 or 15lb with some chunky eyepieces, focuser, dew shield, extra finder, and other bits.  I don't know how much my 8SE weighs with all of my stuff on it, probably more than 15lb.

[Saturninus]

Thanks for the advice. I'll look into the vixen porta. It won't be very often that I use it for the 8 SE. I also have a smaller 90mm scope that I will use when I travel, and I think the vixen porta would work nicely. If it can hold 15 lbs, then I might try to use it with the 8 SE when I have the opportunity to bring the big scope with me