Rocky Mountain highs & lows

[Stu]

This is written largely as an equipment review to show the kit I took away with with me on holiday, for reasons which will become clear.

I've just returned from a family holiday in a place called Niwot, which is outside Boulder, itself near Denver, Colorado. Travelling with my wife and little daughter, and staying with friends, I did not expect to be able to get too much observing done, but hoped for one or two good sessions during our 12 night stay. The moon was generally not favourable, but I thought I should be able to manage to work around it a little, either early evening or early morning.

I was determined to take my Tak with me to make the most of the skies. At 40 degrees latitude, Niwot is around 11.5 degrees further south than my home and I was looking forward to seeing Mars at a higher elevation at very least. I also did not realise until we arrived, but another benefit is that Denver is at approx 1 mile above sea level, so you are looking through alot less atmosphere. You certainly feel the reduced oxygen levels on arrival and I'm not sure I acclimatised completely, still feeling abnormally out of breath, even for me. It is a popular spot for athletes to live and train and you can see why. From the house in Niwot, the mountains dominate the Western horizon, very beautiful and constantly changing with the differing light. We spent a night up in Vail which was lovely; not much snow yet but very nice to drive up through the mountains and to experience the clean air and peace up there (before the ski slopes open for the season).

Back to astro....I had discovered that the Tak was airline portable some time (years) ago, but had never had the chance to put it to the test. Others have subsequently managed it successfully so I had every confidence it would be possible with no problems. I had previously bought a Pelicase 1510 to use, but at around 5kg itself, it left little room for kit within the carry on allowance of 10kg. The 1525 case seemed attractive with its lighter weight, but was just too big for the limits of Norwegian Airlines, so I finally opted for the Think Tank Airport Accelerator which Matthew has been using successfully for quite a few years now. I had to completely rearrange the internal dividers, and add some from the Pelicase to make it work, but got the scope in place down the centre, with accessories down either side.

In travel mode, I have to remove the focuser and dewshield from the Tak and protect the ends with Lenscoat caps (thank you to @johninderby for that suggestion). Copying Simon I added an old elasticated elbow brace to give more protection to the OTA, and then lined the Dewshield with camping Matt foam to prevent it damaging anything (or being damaged itself) once slid over the OTA.

Alongside the scope, the case took the following items:

Giro-WR mount
RDF
ES 30mm 82 degree
APM 20mm 100 degree
24mm Panoptic
18mm BGO
12.5mm BGO
3 to 6mm Nagler Zoom
Baader T2 BBHS diagonal plus 2" and 1.25" clicklock adaptors
Lumicon UHC and OIII 2", plus 1.25" Hb filters
SQM-L meter
Fonemate adaptor

This lot was pretty much bang on 10kg, possibly a little over but it proved no problem. It went straight through check-in and security each time, no questions asked. The tripod and rings/dovetail went in checked baggage, along with a homebrew counterweight system copied from Michael who came up with the original idea. My version used threaded bar, washers and nuts, and a washing powder tub. Not beautiful but stuffed with socks on the journey it took up no space, and once filled with stones from our friends garden it proved a highly effective counterweight.

Reassembling on arrival was comparatively quick, and the scope remained assembled ready to go until we came home. The only mistake I made was forgetting a small extension I normally use to reach focus. Not disastrous, but I did have to pull the eyepieces out of the holder a little way which was annoying.

I'm typing this on the plane on the way back, unable to sleep in part because of a 4 year old who is stretched, fast asleep, across the seat between myself and the lovely, and long suffering Mrs Stu, who is equally wide awake!

So, was it worth all the effort? Well, as indicated in the title it was not necessarily all highs. I was hoping that the skies in Niwot would be decently dark, as it is a smallish town of 4000 people with no streetlights. I also hoped that heading up into the mountains would give me a chance at some darker skies still. The reality was that the Niwot skies were only around mag 19.3, and up in Vail I did not have the scope but the moon was pretty intrusive so I did not get any spectacular skies. I also found that the seeing was not terribly good, not sure why, so high power planetary observing was generally off the cards too!

In all I got out with the scope 4 times and had some enjoyable sessions, but in truth it was nothing I could not have achieved from home. I guess the biggest disappointment was the seeing, as even Mars was not spectacular although in the clearer moments it did show the polar cap and some degree of dark markings, with a nicely defined disk.

I managed the Veil and NAN with the OIII filter, and a surprising amount of detail given the brighter sky, but before the moon rose. I had a fun session on the moon, and also a good play around with the fonemate and S9, the results of which I posted elsewhere. I'm looking forward to receiving my Celestron NeXYZ to try with some lower and higher power eyepieces (now received).

So, do I regret taking the Tak? Nope. It didn't prevent me taking anything else, gave me some decent enjoyment whilst away, and confirmed to me that it is entirely practical to take as carry on baggage even with quite strict limits. I will repeat the exercise in future. I hope it gives you some ideas about what is possible in terms of a travel kit to take abroad.

I do regret that the skies were not spectacular, and that I barely glimpsed the Milky Way all holiday. Such is life as they say, but seeing and being amongst the Rockies was a wonderful experience, and one I would repeat in a flash.

[Stargazer McCabe]

Every day's a school day I guess... 

Glad you got time with friends and family and a time away from the office.

And good the Tak finally got it's "wings" after all this time... 

Surprised the skies weren't as obliging as hoped. We often stay with friends in Greenwood Village, an outlying area of Denver and at their Condo in Lionhead near Vail, and the skies, while "pants" near the city have been a bit more accommodating up in the mountains...

Here's to the next fly away delivering...

[Sunshine]

Hey you know, it's  better to have it and not use it, than need it and not have it! all in all it sounds like your trip was chock full of some beautiful views!.

[GavStar]

A very nice read. Thank you Stu. I really enjoy like these ‘travel astronomy’ threads, part travel review, part astro review ?

It’s a shame that the skies weren’t as you hoped but I’m pleased that the new bag worked and that you did get some sessions.

I find observing on holiday adds another element and somehow makes you feel ‘more part’ of the local landscape. I look forward to hearing about future trips - maybe we should try to arrange a Walton Astro trip away next year? ?

[nightfisher]

Love the pic of the mountains with the big wheeler shame skies were not a little better for you

[Highburymark]

Nice report Stu. Sorry conditions weren't better. I had a similarly frustrating holiday in Spain in August with the FC-100 - the humidity pretty much wiped out any precision astronomy, and Mars was a large beige blob for 12 nights. Fortunately we astronomers are made of stern stuff - patience is our strongest quality

[Stu]

Thanks all. Yes, it was a shame the skies were not better, but at least I got some clear skies. I forgot that I was going to post these pictures with some corny joke about seeing the East and West Vail

 

[lenscap]

The poor seeing may be due to Mountain Waves.

Basically the prevailing westerly wind is diverted skyward by the western slope of the Rockies, causing sustained major turbulence on the eastern side of the range.

Some times this can cause visible Rotor Clouds on the lee side  of the summits. (Very exciting & dangerous for glider pilots apparently)

I remember airline pilots edging up to 40,000 ft to avoid the worst of the chop.

Perhaps the seeing is better with other wind directions.

[jetstream]

Glad you had a good holiday Stu, what scenery!  Its always worth taking a scope along IMHO and I've always wanted to observe from higher elevations.