Travel telescope

[Starpaw]

I live in a first floor flat without a garden, so I have had to come up with a setup to save space and weight for grab and go sessions and quick sessions outside the front.

I use a Celestron C6 SCT on an Altair Astro Starwave Mini Mount with a Horizon 8115 tripod.  The C6 and mount will fit into a large spotting scope or DSLR bag or you could carry the tripod and mount in a long enough tripod bag.  The C6 is fairly light (around 3.5kg if weighed on a scale) and packs a punch. 

I also have a Skywatcher Startravel 80. If weight is an issue, I can swap out the Horizon tripod for a Velbon Sherpa 250R, which isn't overly stable, but fine for the ST 80.  The ST80 has an annoying amount of chromatic aberration on brighter targets, but is great for wide field targets such as open clusters etc. 

One day I plan to get a 70mm ED scope with a retractable dew shield for further space and weight savings.  A zoom eyepiece avoids the need to carry around a selection of eyepieces.

I hope this gives you some ideas for a lightweight travel setup.

[JeremyS]

If I want to slip a small but capable scope into my airline wheely bag I take my Omegon Maksutov MightyMak 60 telescope and a couple of eyepieces http://www.omegon.eu/omegon-maksutov-telescope-mightymak-60/p,46442

It's small and light, comes with a red dot finder. The table top tripod is not the best. I have replaced it with a Velbon EX_Macro tripod which is much more capable.

There are larger Maks around (including an Omegon 80), but they are obviously larger.

So my travel kit includes the Mak 60, 8 x 42 roof prism binocs and, if I am going to a dark sight, my Vixen 2.1 x 42 bins which are remarkable for their views of the Milky Way.

All the best,

Jeremy

[tooth_dr]

1 hour ago, JeremyS said:

If I want to slip a small but capable scope into my airline wheely bag I take my Omegon Maksutov MightyMak 60 telescope and a couple of eyepieces http://www.omegon.eu/omegon-maksutov-telescope-mightymak-60/p,46442

It's small and light, comes with a red dot finder. The table top tripod is not the best. I have replaced it with a Velbon EX_Macro tripod which is much more capable.

There are larger Maks around (including an Omegon 80), but they are obviously larger.

So my travel kit includes the Mak 60, 8 x 42 roof prism binocs and, if I am going to a dark sight, my Vixen 2.1 x 42 bins which are remarkable for their views of the Milky Way.

All the best,

Jeremy

Hi Jeremy

 

I am heading to the states in August and want to take my Lunt 60mm, but I also want to take a normal scope to image the period immediate before during and after totality.  I've been mulling over the 60mm and the 80mm scope.  It will be purely a travel scope, so I was wondering whats your honest opinion, and would you go for the 80mm instead based on your experience of the 60mm?  I want all my scopes and camera in one decent backpack so I'm looking at the 60mm as a more viable option.

Thanks in advance

Adam.

[JeremyS]

1 minute ago, tooth_dr said:

I am heading to the states in August and want to take my Lunt 60mm, but I also want to take a normal scope to image the period immediate before during and after totality.  I've been mulling over the 60mm and the 80mm scope.  It will be purely a travel scope, so I was wondering whats your honest opinion, and would you go for the 80mm instead based on your experience of the 60mm?  I want all my scopes and camera in one decent backpack so I'm looking at the 60mm as a more viable option.

Hello Adam,

if you can stretch to an 80mm (size-wise), I'd go for that as it has significantly more light gathering power.

But as big a consideration is the mount/tripod. The bigger (which means bulkier and heavier) the better.

I also have Tak FS60 and WO 66, which, although small, don't leave room for anything else in carry-on baggage. Another option I was considering was a high quality 50 mm right angle finder/guidescope, but I couldn't find one that I was happy with.

Jeremy

 

 

[tooth_dr]

1 minute ago, JeremyS said:

Hello Adam,

if you can stretch to an 80mm (size-wise), I'd go for that as it has significantly more light gathering power.

But as big a consideration is the mount/tripod. The bigger (which means bulkier and heavier) the better.

I also have Tak FS60 and WO 66, which, although small, don't leave room for anything else in carry-on baggage. Another option I was considering was a high quality 50 mm right angle finder/guidescope, but I couldn't find one that I was happy with.

Jeremy

 

 

I'll check the tripod/mount into the hold luggage, and carry on the scopes.   I have three young kids with me too, so weight and size are factors, the 60mm seems about 1/2 the weight!  There is only a few £ difference in price, so that doesnt help my choice either!  thanks for your reply.

[Mark at Beaufort]

I have had various small scopes - WO 66mm, 72mm Altair Starwave, 70mm Mak/Cass and although each has been fantastic the problem I always found was finding a suitable, not too heavy mount, which would fit into the main hold luggage.

My current little grab and go and travel scope is a Skywatcher Heritage 130P which weighs about 3kgs and will fit nicely in hand luggage when closed. The wooden dobsonian mount which also weighs about 3kgs can be taken apart and placed in the main suitcase. You will need a small screwdriver to reassemble the mount.

My eyepiece is a TeleVue 8-24mm zoom with a Baader 2.25x Barlow.

Last night I used this setup because we had a short clear spell. I viewed Jupiter and had a good view of the Bands + GRS. In addition I viewed M51, M13, M65, M66, NGC3628 and M35. So this scope gives a good view of many DSOs.

Here is a nice review by Neil English which gives more information on how well this scope performs - http://neilenglish.net/a-newtonian-travel-scope/

[Stu]

My solution on the mount side has been a good photo tripod and a Giro-WR mount which weighs under 1kg. If the scope is light enough then you don't need a counterweight, otherwise you can try a solution like Michael with a container you fill with sand or water when you arrive.

http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/language/en/info/p4589_GIRO-WR-azimutale-Montierung-mit-Schnellkupplung-bis-10kg.html

[tooth_dr]

So this arrived today after a couple of weeks delivery time.  I've had a look at the moon there with the supplied 25mm EP on the wee stand and it looks ok!

Cant wait to get it on the eq mount later.

After a lot of thinking I went for the smallest one as I needed it to be really portable if I'm bringing my Lunt as well on my travels so both fit in a rucksack  

 

[JeremyS]

Did you go for the 60 or 80 mm, Adam? - difficult to tell from the pic. Anyway, enjoy!

I got a better tripod to replace the one supplied, as shown in the photo (along with my other travel kit: 8 x 42 bins and wide-field Vixen 2.4 x 42 bins)

Jeremy

 

[Stu]

They look very tidy and highly portable!  

What are the views like? The instructions seem to at least give realistic images of what is possible.

[JeremyS]

5 minutes ago, Stu said:

They look very tidy and highly portable!  

What are the views like? The instructions seem to at least give realistic images of what is possible.

You mean with the Mak 60, Stu? Remarkably good for such a small scope!

Jeremy

[tooth_dr]

Looking a bit lost!

 

 

[tooth_dr]

1 hour ago, JeremyS said:

Did you go for the 60 or 80 mm, Adam? - difficult to tell from the pic. Anyway, enjoy!

I got a better tripod to replace the one supplied, as shown in the photo (along with my other travel kit: 8 x 42 bins and wide-field Vixen 2.4 x 42 bins)

Jeremy

 

Nice little tripod you have there.

It's the 60mm one I got.

Tried some imaging with dmk and DSLR tonight, working on both counts.  I wonder would it work as a guide scope with my 10"N to keep some weight?

[JeremyS]

1 minute ago, tooth_dr said:

Looking a bit lost!

That's hilarious, Adam!

reminds me of the nursery rhyme: "Big fleas have little fleas, Upon their backs to bite 'em, And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so, ad infinitum"

Jeremy

[JeremyS]

1 minute ago, tooth_dr said:

I wonder would it work as a guide scope with my 10"N to keep some weight?

I think you need to use the 10"N as a guide scope for the MightyMak 60

Jeremy

 

[rockystar]

On ‎02‎/‎05‎/‎2017 at 23:07, tooth_dr said:

Looking a bit lost!

 

 

no danger of the scope being too much for the mount in that set up

 

[LukeSkywatcher]

That little scope makes my Celestron 70 travelscope look like a monster.

[Geoff Lister]

The Skywatcher Heritage 90P Virtuoso makes a good grab-and-go as well as providing a nice little 90mm MCT for travelling. The OTA, with finder, diagonal and 25mm eyepiece weighs in at just under 1.5kg, and has a length of 330mm; fine for hand luggage. I managed to find a rather nice little camera mount; that can either be set up as a tripod, or clamp to a table or handrail; and this screws into the OTA's dovetail.

The supplied mount (a bit too bulky for air travel) can function unpowered, but, if powered, only takes about 130mA when tracking (up to 500mA max-rate slewing). It takes the Synscan GOTO handset from my Skyliner 250PX; I just have to set the time and do the same 2-star alignment as its big brother.

The OTA and mount dimensions enable viewing up to the zenith. If used carefully, the mount will also take the 127mm Skymax MCT, with the OTA's C of G close to the AZ axis, but limiting ALT to about 70 degrees. The max slewing speed is very high, so I would not want to use a long OTA.

I normally use it on a glass-top, circular, garden table, as shown in the composite photo.

Geoff

[Mr niall]

On 02/05/2017 at 20:45, tooth_dr said:

So this arrived today after a couple of weeks delivery time.  I've had a look at the moon there with the supplied 25mm EP on the wee stand and it looks ok!

Cant wait to get it on the eq mount later.

After a lot of thinking I went for the smallest one as I needed it to be really portable if I'm bringing my Lunt as well on my travels so both fit in a rucksack  

 

Sorry to hijack an old thread @tooth_dr but I was thinking about one of these for the summer hols - do you still like yours?

[tooth_dr]

43 minutes ago, Mr niall said:

Sorry to hijack an old thread @tooth_dr but I was thinking about one of these for the summer hols - do you still like yours?

It’s great! You get vignetting when imaging with a DSLR but It’s good visually. The dovetail that comes on it is smaller than normal so I added a synta one instead.

I took the photo below through it, from 5 miles away, using a DSLR. 

[Mr niall]

43 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

It’s great! You get vignetting when imaging with a DSLR but It’s good visually. The dovetail that comes on it is smaller than normal so I added a synta one instead.

I took the photo below through it, from 5 miles away, using a DSLR. 

Wow that’s fab, I think that’s all I needed to hear!

PS - I notice that WALLE is your profile pic. I wrote my dissertation on WALLE - it was about the population resource debate and the manifestation of Malthusian dogma in modern cinema. The geography department nearly wet themselves when I suggested it. Still did it though ?

[25585]

On 07/04/2017 at 08:05, michael.h.f.wilkinson said:

Any thoughts on this one?

http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p1178_Vixen-VMC-110-L-110mm-F9-4-Maksutov-Telescope.html

Fairly fast for a Mak-Cas (F/9.4), 110mm aperture, and only 2.1kg. That should travel easily.

Its Vixen. Can't be bad. Vixen also make a little 60mm achromat https://www.vixenoptics.co.uk/Pages/a62ss.htm 

[LukeSkywatcher]

Ive just bought one of these, and one of these:

Bresser ar102xs refractor 

Skywatcher AZ5 tripod and mount.

Plan was just for use with Quark filter for Solar Ha, and Hershel wedge for WL observing. Why limit it to solar observing. Its a great all rounder and will most likely get more use than my 8Se.

 

[5haan_A]

I was thinking about getting a travel scope for an upcoming holiday in Majorca. 

 

But, I had some concerns, mainly that I would be in a boat travelling between different islands, alcove and bays and I might find the rocking of the ocean too much. Any experience with observing on the waves? 

[JimothyC]

7 hours ago, 5haan_A said:

I was thinking about getting a travel scope for an upcoming holiday in Majorca. 

 

But, I had some concerns, mainly that I would be in a boat travelling between different islands, alcove and bays and I might find the rocking of the ocean too much. Any experience with observing on the waves? 

Well I believe it's been done before. 

 

But in all seriousness, if the boat's a rocking, you'll have trouble finding and keeping on any targets. So make sure you've got something pretty wide field. You'll probably want to be using it for terrestrial or ocean based targets as well, so you'd want to consider something with optics which would present these the right way up. In all honesty, your best bet would be some binoculars.