Scope for Regents Park, London?

[bernsel]

I am planning to get a telescope to do occasional star gazing from Regents Park in central London, and also to take the telescope out the countryside in the UK  to get some occasional darker nights as well. I am interested in everything from the solar system, to stars, to galaxies, nebulas and deep space objects. Will do both normal eye viewing and some photography as well.

I have no budget constraints, and do like to get something with good quality. But I have one constraint and that is weight - I want to be able to transport the equipment to and from the park on a carriage for example. So I am tempted to go as large as possible to get the best possible image quality and a high magnification, but I am also afraid that if I go too large, I might end up never using the telescope.

My main candidates so far are the Celestron CPC Deluxe 925 HD, or the Celestron CPC Deluxe 800 HD, or the Celestron NexStar 8SE. 

I like the CPC models because of higher quality / robustness. But I like the NexStar because of weight. It's very tempting to go with the 925, but perhaps that is simply too large/heavy? I will need to bring battery pack and other small equipment with me as well.

Does anyone have experience from observing from Regents Park? - I know that many astronomers meet there regularly. What is sensibel to bring along?

[LouisJB]

well, I've no experience of observing from London, but you should contact the Baker Street Irregulars as that is their base and I'm sure they can advise (and supply) something to meet your requirements.

In terms of what is best, that depends... What you want to observe, how much you want to spend, where you might be headed in the longer term.

[baggywrinkle]

When you say carriage to transport, is this one towed behind a bike? or a drag along?

The reason I ask is that over constant bumps etc there is a risk that a reflector of any kind could require further collimation.

The 8SE is a reasonable apeture and, based on experience with the slightly smaller 6SE is easily broken down to two parts and if well protected should be OK.

The other two are big beasts.

You could consider a good sized refractor, short tube, on an AZ mount. Once you go for an equatorial then the mounts get quite heavy and beefy. A refractor would not easily lose collimation.

Do you want to do Lunary & Planetary or try for DSO which in Central London culd be a challenge?.

There are astro shops in London, have a look at what you are thinking of to get a clear vision on sizes and transportability.

[Moonshane]

unless you have a car I'd be of the opinion that deep space imaging is not feasible as the kit required would be too bulky and heavy. you have a number of options for visual astronomy whih require much less heavy mounts.

[ronin]

Visit BSIA one night and see what they take along.

I visited a club fairly local one night and just about every scope (8 out of 10) was a 5 or 6 inch got Mak/SCT.

[bernsel]

To answer the question about transport: yes, was thinking of taking the equipment on a baby stroller of some kind. I  live quite close to the park. I would also take it in a car outside of London occasionally. I guess if you can transport a telescope in a car (with the bumpiness that comes with that), you can also transport it safely in some kind of stroller?

Will definitely visit both a Baker Street astronomers event, as well as a shop here in London, to get a feel for the sizes - thanks for good advice. 

I do want to do lunar, planets and DSO - all of it - so would ideally want something versatile.

[Moonshane]

before you make any decicions I'd attend a meeting at the park and then you can see what's involved with DSO imaging (much more complex and heavy than planetary imaging) and what visually you'll get with more portable kit.

generally the requirements for visual observing and completely different to the requirements of imaging deep space objects and I have not seen kit yet that can do both effectively. 

[baggywrinkle]

Transport in a car would be different from a towed buggy.

Plus you can pad out the OTA a lot better.

Cars have better suspension, towed buugy not so.

You might be looking at an 8'' flex tube dob. or stick with the SE8 they are pretty versatile but do have a longer focal lenght. SCT construction is a bit more robust than Newtonian.

Otherwise as stated a 120 or 150mm shorttube refractor.

[cantab]

There are the ultra-portable Dobs, such as by Sumerian Optics (though I think they aren't taking new orders at present). If you can deal with assembly at the park, might be the way to go?

[GeorgeB]

If you are going to manhandle your kit to the park then you should try to go for the compact option.  The 8SE would be OK but those CPC 925's are rather brutish to lug around (think Tonka on steroids).  I live a few mins walk from Richmond Park and occasionally take my 102mm GOTO refractor or my 127mm Mak there using a 2-wheel luggage trolly.  I put the OTA in a rucksack on my back and bungee-strap the mount, battery and equipment flight case to the trolley.  Most of the time I just go to the park with my 15x70 bins, as lugging a relatively small scope can be a faff.