(Yet) another ultra-light travel setup

[grjsk]

Badhex made a thread back in September 2022 named “Another ultra-light travel kit project”. That title sums up the thread nicely. In November 2022 I wrote this comment:

“I have no real need for a ultra light setup, but your project is very intriguing!”.

Fast forward a few months, and suddenly I own a similar setup myself. In the months following my comment, the evenings tended to be cloudy, and the mornings clear. Unfortunately, I never have time to observe in the morning. The only window is a 10-15 minute period between dropping my daughter of to the kindergarten and catching the train to work. I brought binoculars a few times, but I really don’t care for handheld, and since the moon and planets are the most obvious targets, binos aren’t really up for the task. So with the project of Badhex at the back of my mind, I ended up getting my own ultra light setup as well!

My needs where quite simple:

·         A setup small enough that it would fit in the backpack I use for work

·         Ready to use in 1 min

·         Could be used to scan the skies wide field but also observe the moon and planets

 

To be able to fit a tripod in my backpack, it had to be shorter than 50cm, preferably closer to 45cm. I was hoping the keep it under 1,5 kg as well. It was also necessary that it was high enough that I could observe standing. A tripod this small needs a small scope and light eyepieces. I ended up with the following:

TS-Optics 50mm f4 ED refractor

Leofoto LX-254CT tripod with the XB-32 ballhead

Stellalyra 1,25 inch erect prism diagonal

Tele Vue Panoptic 24mm eyepiece

Tele Vue Nagler 3-6mm Zoom eyepiece

Lowepro Hard Case CS 80 (22x24x10 cm)

 

The scope weights 670 gram and can fit in the palm of your hand. The tripod is 44,5 cm long with the ballhead attached, but still becomes 137 cm high. I already had the erect prism, and it is a fine choice since it makes scanning that skies a bit more intuitive (saving a bit of time), and since I wont go any higher than 67x magnification anyway, the performance issues compared to a ordinary mirror diagonal is not very large. I also already had the Nagler zoom, and it was an obvious choice. Light, small, and giving me 33x to 67x. That is a small range of course, but more than enough for my needs. I also prefer not to push the exit pupil too much, and 67x gives me an exit pupil of 0,75. Since the scope is f4, it helps that it Nagler is well corrected. For wide field I had several options. Something like a 25mm Plossl could do the job, but I feared it would be rather lackluster off-axis. Something like the Stellalyra/APM 24mm could work, but its 330 g. So I chose the Panoptic 24mm instead. Regarded as the most well corrected 24mm in its class, and also the lightest.

I’ve testet it a few mornings now, and it’s been very positive. The focuser feels smooth and functional. It handles my eyepieces without issue. The tripod and ball head is also more than sturdy enough for my usage. In portrait mode with clutches loosend, the scope balances nicely, making it a joy to operate. The 24mm is heavier than the Nagler but no re-balancing is required when switching which of course is very nice considering 10-15 min sessions. 

The first session was actually quite memorable. I was out at 06.20 the 09^th of October, and it was still quite dark. The moon was up, so I started there. The 24mm gives me a 7,74 degrees field of view, so all I had to do to find the moon was to point in its general direction. I quickly swapped for the Nagler Zoom, and it gave me a crisp view at 67x. A bit of CA, but it had a very blue hue, so I suspect some of it was because of the atmosphere.  I was surprised how much details could be seen at only 66x. I started around Mare Humorum and the Gassendi impact. Hints of the central peaks could also be seen. I followed the terminator north, passed the Kepler and Aristarchus crater, and ended at the Sinus Iridium. Very enjoyable. I then went for Venus, but it was not much to look at, so I went for Jupiter instead. Surprisingly well defined, with two clear belts, darkening caps and four moons showing. Time was ticking, so I switched to the 24mm, and went for Orion. It was the first view of it this season, and it was marvelous! The whole belt could easily fit, and I spent a few minutes scanning the whole constellation at low magnification.

Overall, I am very satisfied. The setup gave me exactly what I was hoping for: a tiny setup I can use for 10-15 minutes in the mornings, and give me both wide field (8x) and closeup (67x) views of the sky. Both the moon and Jupiter was very enjoyable even at only 67x.

 

Edited October 17, 2023 by grjsk

[badhex]

On 17/10/2023 at 10:46, grjsk said:

Badhex made a thread back in September 2022 named “Another ultra-light travel kit project”. That title sums up the thread nicely. In November 2022 I wrote this comment:

“I have no real need for a ultra light setup, but your project is very intriguing!”.

Fast forward a few months, and suddenly I own a similar setup myself. In the months following my comment, the evenings tended to be cloudy, and the mornings clear. Unfortunately, I never have time to observe in the morning. The only window is a 10-15 minute period between dropping my daughter of to the kindergarten and catching the train to work. I brought binoculars a few times, but I really don’t care for handheld, and since the moon and planets are the most obvious targets, binos aren’t really up for the task. So with the project of Badhex at the back of my mind, I ended up getting my own ultra light setup as well!

My needs where quite simple:

·         A setup small enough that it would fit in the backpack I use for work

·         Ready to use in 1 min

·         Could be used to scan the skies wide field but also observe the moon and planets

 

To be able to fit a tripod in my backpack, it had to be shorter than 50cm, preferably closer to 45cm. I was hoping the keep it under 1,5 kg as well. It was also necessary that it was high enough that I could observe standing. A tripod this small needs a small scope and light eyepieces. I ended up with the following:

TS-Optics 50mm f4 ED refractor

Leofoto LX-254CT tripod with the XB-32 ballhead

Stellalyra 1,25 inch erect prism diagonal

Tele Vue Panoptic 24mm eyepiece

Tele Vue Nagler 3-6mm Zoom eyepiece

Lowepro Hard Case CS 80 (22x24x10 cm)

 

The scope weights 670 gram and can fit in the palm of your hand. The tripod is 44,5 cm long with the ballhead attached, but still becomes 137 cm high. I already had the erect prism, and it is a fine choice since it makes scanning that skies a bit more intuitive (saving a bit of time), and since I wont go any higher than 67x magnification anyway, the performance issues compared to a ordinary mirror diagonal is not very large. I also already had the Nagler zoom, and it was an obvious choice. Light, small, and giving me 33x to 67x. That is a small range of course, but more than enough for my needs. I also prefer not to push the exit pupil too much, and 67x gives me an exit pupil of 0,75. Since the scope is f4, it helps that it Nagler is well corrected. For wide field I had several options. Something like a 25mm Plossl could do the job, but I feared it would be rather lackluster off-axis. Something like the Stellalyra/APM 24mm could work, but its 330 g. So I chose the Panoptic 24mm instead. Regarded as the most well corrected 24mm in its class, and also the lightest.

I’ve testet it a few mornings now, and it’s been very positive. The focuser feels smooth and functional. It handles my eyepieces without issue. The tripod and ball head is also more than sturdy enough for my usage. In portrait mode with clutches loosend, the scope balances nicely, making it a joy to operate. The 24mm is heavier than the Nagler but no re-balancing is required when switching which of course is very nice considering 10-15 min sessions. 

The first session was actually quite memorable. I was out at 06.20 the 09^th of October, and it was still quite dark. The moon was up, so I started there. The 24mm gives me a 7,74 degrees field of view, so all I had to do to find the moon was to point in its general direction. I quickly swapped for the Nagler Zoom, and it gave me a crisp view at 67x. A bit of CA, but it had a very blue hue, so I suspect some of it was because of the atmosphere.  I was surprised how much details could be seen at only 66x. I started around Mare Humorum and the Gassendi impact. Hints of the central peaks could also be seen. I followed the terminator north, passed the Kepler and Aristarchus crater, and ended at the Sinus Iridium. Very enjoyable. I then went for Venus, but it was not much to look at, so I went for Jupiter instead. Surprisingly well defined, with two clear belts, darkening caps and four moons showing. Time was ticking, so I switched to the 24mm, and went for Orion. It was the first view of it this season, and it was marvelous! The whole belt could easily fit, and I spent a few minutes scanning the whole constellation at low magnification.

Overall, I am very satisfied. The setup gave me exactly what I was hoping for: a tiny setup I can use for 10-15 minutes in the mornings, and give me both wide field (8x) and closeup (67x) views of the sky. Both the moon and Jupiter was very enjoyable even at only 67x.

 

Excellent writeup, looks great! I think I mentioned that I had considered this scope early on when I was looking at a tiny setup, so it's nice to read up on some real world experience - it scounds like a great scope. 

Clever approach with the ball head, did that come with the tripod or bought separately? I like the look of the case also, I've not managed to sort anything out for travelling yet. What are the internal measurements? 

One thing you may want to watch out for is diagonals with that design have quite a large lip inside the EP side, as well as a sleeve inside the scope side, which reduces the clear aperture by a surprising amount and might cause vignetting. Obviously it's only an issue at the widest field views, and may not be that noticeable. 

Anyway great stuff, looking forward to hearing more adventures! 

[Concordia000]

Setups like this tempt me into sharing my own ultra-light setup…

It’s not as simple as OP’s setup since it’s an imaging setup. In the picture you have:

- Borg 55FL with F/3.6 reducer

- 50mm guide scope

- ZWO ASI120mm-mini guiding camera and Touptek IMX571 colour camera

- Filter drawer and filter

- Rainbow Astro RST-135

- Tripod, battery, laptop

 

Everything above the dovetail weighs about 2.5kg and The setup (excluding the laptop) also weighs about 12kg. Thinking about simplifying this by switching to an OAG/filter drawer assembly and putting a power box above the rings.

[grjsk]

The ballhead came with the tripod. The internal dimensions of the case are: 17.5 x 20.5 x 8 cm. Its about 300 grams.

I haven’t noticed any vignetting, but I haven’t really been looking for it either. In any other setup I would have prefered a mirror diagonal, but in these short sessions standing up, I enjoy a having the image match the naked eye experience.

 

 

Edited October 25, 2023 by grjsk

[jjohnson3803]

Here's mine - 50mm converted RACI finder with helical focuser, ScopeTech Zero mount, Innorel carbon fiber tripod.  I haven't weighed it, but I'll estimate the whole rig is around 2kg.  It's certainly an easy one-hand carry.

The tripod collapses down quite short, but I can switch to a smaller Benro tripod if need be.