Dinky Travel Scopes / Grab n Go Options

[Alkaid]

I'm attracted to the idea of the small scope for UK travel.  The scope must also be suitable for terrestrial use too.   I like the idea of the AZ GTI mount coupled with a suitable OTA, but not sure which one....  I think the ED72 would be very nice but as I'm currently using a 6" F5 newt on my trips, I'm not sure I could take such a hit in aperture.  What can 72mm really do??  Then there are two 100mm options that wouldn't tax the mount - the little 102 Mak and the 100mm Startravel F5 short tube.  Both very different characteristics, I think that the Mak would just be too long in the gears for sweeping star fields.   And whilst the Startravel would be perfect for that, the blue / purple tinging of stars would irritate me slightly.  How noticeable is the colour at low power, is it present?   I suppose I'm just thinking out loud and getting my thoughts into words....any thoughts from you out there with these OTA's??

[JOC]

Although it's an old scope (and obviously you would need a modern day equivalent) I have been really impressed with the performance of this:

Which I think is about as grab and go as it gets - all the legs store inside the tripod centre.  Whilst it might not look a planet scope I have had good views of the planets with it and it copes with other sky objects too.

[vlaiv]

ST102 is actually pretty good on star fields and on low power, only the brightest of the stars will show some color.

Where it lacks is planets / Moon and high power star observing (like splitting doubles and such). With planets you are really limited to about 100-120x power and aperture mask of about 50-60mm. Without aperture mask to tame CA it is simply useless for anything above x50 for such bright objects, as all that CA smears the view and detail is just not there. For brighter stars / moon you may also benefit from minus violet filter - like Baader Contrast booster or fringe killer, even simple wratten #8 yellow, but that will add yellow cast on image.

What budget are we talking about?

Maybe there could be some middle ground in a form of 80mm ED doublet? Something like this:

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p8637_TS-Optics-PHOTOLINE-80-mm-f-7-FPL53-Apo---2-5--Focuser.html

(there is altair astro version as well, but I don't know if they are exactly the same optically, nor for that matter, which one could be better).

[festoon]

Cannot recommend enough a c5 on a AZ GTi.

Nice compact and lightweight to carry as one piece and a decent enough aperture

[JOC]

13 minutes ago, festoon said:

Cannot recommend enough a c5 on a AZ GTi.

Nice compact and lightweight to carry as one piece and a decent enough aperture

That's rather neat and tidy as a set-up isn't it?  The baby C5 is rather neat.  So many photos and ads on SGL are about big telescopes, huge tripods and mounts it quite nice to see something that compact in comparison.

[John]

I've enjoyed my little TV Ranger quite a lot since I've owned it. It's just so light (easy 1 hand pickup for the whole thing) and has a well figured objectve that runs to 150x without much trouble. When you don't really feel in the mood, a little scope like this can put a big smile on your face 

[Alkaid]

That Ranger’s nice John.

[Stu]

I've long been a fan of small apo refractors, and do think something like a 72ED would be a good choice. If you want something that is easy to take anywhere, then with these scopes you hardly need give it a second thought!

A decent small apo will take high mag and show some planetary detail; I've managed Jupiter shadow and GRS transits with a 60mm, whilst giving lovely widefield views at low power.

I have a TS72mm which is more expensive than the SW but has a retractable dewshield and better focuser, but I'm sure the 72ED would be alot of fun. Equally an 80ED would give you that little bit more, at the expensive of being slightly less portable, but only slightly.

[JeremyS]

Did somebody say dinky?

 

[Cjg]

I have an Altair Astro 72mm for travel, here it is on Thassos.

Perfect for the brighter  DSO’s in Sagittarius, and whilst Mars was tiny, it was good enough. Lightweight, but well made and overhead locker size and weight friendly even by TUI standards. Sits on a standard ball and socket photo tripod. Didn’t bother with a finder and managed to see lots. 

Good luck,

Chris

[djpaul]

I recently purchased a william optics zenithstar 73mm for this very same reason.

And I am also about to purchase a skywatcher az gti mount for it. ( pick it up on monday )?

It's a very well built scope and I can also say the focuser can handle my very heavy ethos eyepieces with no problems.even at the zenith.

Although I have replaced the stock locking ring on the focuser for a william optics Roto lock as my 2 inch diagonal has a saftey cut that slipped occasionally. 

The zenithstar is small enough to fit inside a standard size camera case and is very portable.

 

 

[Size9Hex]

21 hours ago, Alkaid said:

What can 72mm really do??

Loads! I’ve owned the ST102 and the 72ED and would take the 72ED 9 times out of 10. What it lacks in aperture against the 102, it gains in versatility. The 1 time in 10 I’d take the 102 would be for DSOs in very dark skies. From the top of my head, the 72ED has shown me -

• Granulation, faculae and plenty of sun spots on the Sun.
• Solar panels on the International Space Station.
• Craterlets in Plato on the moon.
• Shadow transits and the Great Red Spot on Jupiter
• The Cassini Division and coloured banding on Saturn.
• Double stars resolved inside the Dawes limit.
• The main dust lane in M31.

Its a really capable telescope. I won’t pretend it’s not limited by aperture though. A well figured 4" ED would beat it of course.

21 hours ago, Alkaid said:

How noticeable is the colour at low power, is it present?

On bright targets (daytime, solar, lunar, planets) it’s easily seen at low power in the ST102. For double stars, I felt it had to be fainter than about mag 7 before the colours started looking right. For deep sky, I never noticed any false colour; It’s a terrific deep sky scope.

Hope this helps!

[KP82]

On 19/01/2019 at 18:17, Alkaid said:

 How noticeable is the colour at low power, is it present?  

As a previous owner of a Bresser AR102XS (102/460 f/4.5) which is very similar to SW ST102, my experience was the views were mostly colour free for magnification lower than 60X. I could see colour fringing around bright objects such as the Moon, Arcturus, Vega, Capella, etc. but they were not as bad as you might expect from such a fast scope. I could view the Moon at 92X and still see the details on the surface clearly. As for wide field sweeping or bright DSOs, there were no colours at all. The only targets I would probably avoid would be Venus, Jupiter and Mars.

My current travel setup is a WO Megrez 90FD on AZ Pronto + Manfrotto 055CL.

[Alkaid]

On ‎20‎/‎01‎/‎2019 at 15:51, Size9Hex said:

Loads! I’ve owned the ST102 and the 72ED and would take the 72ED 9 times out of 10. What it lacks in aperture against the 102, it gains in versatility. The 1 time in 10 I’d take the 102 would be for DSOs in very dark skies. From the top of my head, the 72ED has shown me -

• Granulation, faculae and plenty of sun spots on the Sun.
• Solar panels on the International Space Station.
• Craterlets in Plato on the moon.
• Shadow transits and the Great Red Spot on Jupiter
• The Cassini Division and coloured banding on Saturn.
• Double stars resolved inside the Dawes limit.
• The main dust lane in M31.

Its a really capable telescope. I won’t pretend it’s not limited by aperture though. A well figured 4" ED would beat it of course.

On bright targets (daytime, solar, lunar, planets) it’s easily seen at low power in the ST102. For double stars, I felt it had to be fainter than about mag 7 before the colours started looking right. For deep sky, I never noticed any false colour; It’s a terrific deep sky scope.

Hope this helps!

 

Pretty impressed if the '72' can resolve the Plato craterlets, even if it does have ED glass - I've only managed Craterlet 'A' with my 100mm Tal under average UK seeing.  Were you abroad or were the conditions rather superb (and rare)?  Saying that, I suppose the angle of illumination helps too.  Whenever I get time to observe Plato, the crater is already well past being illuminated.

[Size9Hex]

29 minutes ago, Alkaid said:

 

Pretty impressed if the '72' can resolve the Plato craterlets, even if it does have ED glass - I've only managed Craterlet 'A' with my 100mm Tal under average UK seeing.  Were you abroad or were the conditions rather superb (and rare)?  Saying that, I suppose the angle of illumination helps too.  Whenever I get time to observe Plato, the crater is already well past being illuminated.

I was too. Despite consistently seeing them I still doubted it because I didn’t think it should be possible. It was from the UK. Not sure on the seeing conditions of the sky itself on the night, and of course on any given night the airy disk on the big dob is often pretty messy while the airy disk in the frac is good to excellent, so you’d judge seeing differently depending on which you looked through. I seem to get good seeing in the big dob rarely, yet excellent seeing in the little frac quite often as judged by the airy disks. If I recall correctly, the frac picked out 2 craterlets, not easily mind. It’s common for the 10" dob to pick out 4. I’ve only once or twice had good enough seeing and the right lighting angle to start going beyond the big 4 or 5 craterlets in the dob. I was surprised the frac did so well, and as I say doubted it, but found myself on the following page which is a great guide and suggests 3" and upwards for starting to detect these features. I’d emphasise "detect" as per the article rather than "resolve" the craterlets.

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/34841-guide-to-plato-craterlets/

With the moon high in the sky over the next few months it’s the ideal chance! ?

[Alkaid]

4 minutes ago, Size9Hex said:

I was too. Despite consistently seeing them I still doubted it because I didn’t think it should be possible. It was from the UK. Not sure on the seeing conditions of the sky itself on the night, and of course on any given night the airy disk on the big dob is often pretty messy while the airy disk in the frac is good to excellent, so you’d judge seeing differently depending on which you looked through. I seem to get good seeing in the big dob rarely, yet excellent seeing in the little frac quite often as judged by the airy disks. If I recall correctly, the frac picked out 2 craterlets, not easily mind. It’s common for the 10" dob to pick out 4. I’ve only once or twice had good enough seeing and the right lighting angle to start going beyond the big 4 or 5 craterlets in the dob. I was surprised the frac did so well, and as I say doubted it, but found myself on the following page which is a great guide and suggests 3" and upwards for starting to detect these features. I’d emphasise "detect" as per the article rather than "resolve" the craterlets.

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/34841-guide-to-plato-craterlets/

With the moon high in the sky over the next few months it’s the ideal chance! ?

That's fantastic.  What a cracking little scope!

[Carbon Brush]

Hi Steve.

If you buy any of the small refractors used, you can always sell them on a minimal loss if they don't work out.

I used to have an ST102. Always considered it performed very well for the money.
If you don't have a really steady mount, then you aren't going to be splitting doubles and the like. So CA may be tolerable.
Or if you spend more you can get an 80mm with better objective to help with CA.

A curved ball to throw in. A long time ago I got a lot of enjoyment from my ETX90. I still have it but it has not been out of it's case (except for inspection) for years.
It was very good for pullng out of the box, drop on the tripod and show non-astro visitors Saturn, Jupiter, moon craters etc before they got cold or bored.
These scopes seem to have fallen out of favour nowadays. Though some have been neglected so you need to check befoe buying used.
But they are rucksack/backpack size with the mount included.
Use goto, or leave it at home. Stand on a table, or use a tabletop tripod, or photo tripod, or a full size tripod.
With the flip mirror it is good for astro or terrestrial.

Then again a Vixen VMC95 (or similar) gives great image quality and being lightweight can go on a porta mount.
Flip mirror again. I have a VMC95 that goes on overseas holidays.

Sorry to throw choices (or is that information overload) into the thread.

David.

[nightfisher]

dont rule out the skymax 102, cracking scope for the money