Travel scope musings

[Louis D]

1 hour ago, LondonNeil said:

I was about to say a sct or mak gives a very compact form for FL, but that Dall example is incredible!

I put together a 127 Mak on a DSV-1 mount and Manfrotto 3036 tripod for my grown daughter's family's camping trips.  It fits nicely in the back of their Chevy Equinox along with their camping gear.  5 years ago, I put the entire kit together for under $400 buying used.  It would be more like $600+ now.

[JOC]

14 hours ago, Louis D said:

Or, build your own suitcase Dob:

Isn't that dinky 😄

[John]

3 hours ago, LondonNeil said:

I was about to say a sct or mak gives a very compact form for FL, but that Dall example is incredible!

My previous travel scope was a 90mm mak. 

I'm looking for more aperture and wider fields of view with a future travel scope I think.

[Louis D]

6 hours ago, JOC said:

I have travelled with my baby Vixen, it and it's 'folding all inside itself mini tripod' all fit into a tiny plastic tool box I bought for it.  Here it is in action when I took it to Scotland

 

I notice a lot of really small cars in the parking lot.  I'm not sure our full sized SUVs could even fit down most country roads in Britain.  A Chevy Suburban is 81" wide while compact hatchbacks are more like 66" to 70" wide, which is an entire foot narrower.

Add to that, a lot of Americans like to bring their RV to remote campsites.  A fifth-wheel trailer is around 100" wide while the dually pickup truck hauling it is 96" wide.  I'll bet it would get interesting passing two of those on those narrow country roads in Britain.

Edited May 8 by Louis D

[JeremyS]

You need something like Horace Dall’s collapsible pocket 6-inch Cassegrain, @John

[John]

5 hours ago, Louis D said:

I notice a lot of really small cars in the parking lot.  I'm not sure our full sized SUVs could even fit down most country roads in Britain.  A Chevy Suburban is 81" wide while compact hatchbacks are more like 66" to 70" wide, which is an entire foot narrower.

Add to that, a lot of Americans like to bring their RV to remote campsites.  A fifth-wheel trailer is around 100" wide while the dually pickup truck hauling it is 96" wide.  I'll bet it would get interesting passing two of those on those narrow country roads in Britain.

When we visited Arizona a few years ago, the rental car was a mid-size option, a Nissan I seem to recall, which seemed quite large to me when I got into it and started off. Once we got out into the large scale Arizona landscape though, the car seemed rather small. In countries such as the USA, Australia and Canada, larger cars seem to fit in well. 

Over here in the rural areas of my part of the UK there are plenty of small lanes where the hedges will almost be touching the wing mirrors on both sides of my small hatchback 😬

 

[Louis D]

20 minutes ago, John said:

Over here in the rural areas of my part of the UK there are plenty of small lanes where the hedges will almost be touching the wing mirrors on both sides of my small hatchback 😬

That's my point.  You simply can't take a big vehicle out to the British countryside to haul a big telescope even if you had one and could afford the gas (petrol) for it.  I suppose you could try to go with a long and slim trailer to haul a large telescope, though.

[John]

11 minutes ago, Louis D said:

That's my point.  You simply can't take a big vehicle out to the British countryside to haul a big telescope even if you had one and could afford the gas (petrol) for it.  I suppose you could try to go with a long and slim trailer to haul a large telescope, though.

I was at a star party a few years ago when a guy turned up towing what appeared to be a small horse box. He opened up the rear doors, let down a couple of ramps and gently rolled a 20 inch dobsonian, on wheels, down onto the field. 

My interests are more modest than this though 🙂

A "quart into a pint pot" as the saying goes:

 

[JeremyS]

2 minutes ago, John said:

 

Where’s your other trainer, John? 🤔

[Ratlet]

5 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Where’s your other trainer, John? 🤔

Was in an accident and written off.

It hit a bumble bee at speed.

[PeterStudz]

A few years ago I took a little 4.5 inch reflector on holiday to southern Crete. We stayed in Loutro which is Bortle 2. The biggest advantage here is that there are no roads and no cars with those annoying headlight things! And every night a clear night. 

The telescope was our first (it’s in my profile picture) - a SkyWatcher 1145p, originally on a wobbly EQ1 - one of those things people tell you to avoid and NOT buy. But mounted on something a little more stable it’s been fabulous. The OTA, mount, eyepieces etc easily fitting into a carryon hand luggage bag. We did put the tripod in hold, but I’m sure you could get something in carryon too. 

I can well remember looking at the Milky Way, looking at the star chart and thinking (is that really the swan nebula I can see just by looking up?). Sure enough, pointing the  red-dot at “the smudge”, then looking through the eyepiece, there was the swan nebula. I’ve never been able to see this at home in my 8” Dob, Bortle 7 back garden.

The lagoon nebula in particular was stunning. I’ve never seen anything like it. Far better than any image that I’ve seen and for me the most impressive DSO that I’ve seen so far. And all in one of those telescopes people are often told to avoid. We are going back this year and  hopefully organise things a bit better. 

Edited May 9 by PeterStudz

[Mr Spock]

The Heritage 130 looks quite compact. Shame about the focuser. You can get a 24mm 68° in there though for 2.5° which could be useful.

[Highburymark]

11 hours ago, PeterStudz said:

A few years ago I took a little 4.5 inch reflector on holiday to southern Crete. We stayed in Loutro which is Bortle 2. The biggest advantage here is that there are no roads and no cars with those annoying headlight things! And every night a clear night. 

The telescope was our first (it’s in my profile picture) - a SkyWatcher 1145p, originally on a wobbly EQ1 - one of those things people tell you to avoid and NOT buy. But mounted on something a little more stable it’s been fabulous. The OTA, mount, eyepieces etc easily fitting into a carryon hand luggage bag. We did put the tripod in hold, but I’m sure you could get something in carryon too. 

I can well remember looking at the Milky Way, looking at the star chart and thinking (is that really the swan nebula I can see just by looking up?). Sure enough, pointing the  red-dot at “the smudge”, then looking through the eyepiece, there was the swan nebula. I’ve never been able to see this at home in my 8” Dob, Bortle 7 back garden.

The lagoon nebula in particular was stunning. I’ve never seen anything like it. Far better than any image that I’ve seen and for me the most impressive DSO that I’ve seen so far. And all in one of those telescopes people are often told to avoid. We are going back this year and  hopefully organise things a bit better. 

We’ve been to Loutro a couple of times too - amazing place, and the darkest skies I’ve seen in Europe. Sadly all I had with me was a pair of binoculars. Bet the little Skywatcher was perfect.

[Highburymark]

Even though I wasn’t thrilled with my example, maybe a C6 makes sense here? Definitely the best aperture/size/weight compromise for travel and mounting. 
I know you have a few nice refractors around 4”-5” John - presume you don’t want to travel with any of those? If you’re just going after DSOs under dark skies, the SW achro might be perfect. But I think otherwise I’d go for one of the Heritage range. I love the idea of a tabletop scope for travel.

[John]

Thanks very much for all the suggestions. A lot more to muse about ! 🙂

Having really enjoyed using my current 70mm ED refractor for white light solar viewing today, I'm minded to keep that scope and add a small newtonian or ST102 to my stable, to use on my travel alt-az mount, so then I have a couple of options, assuming that I can stow 2 small OTA's without too much disapproval from my better half 🙄

I've seen a Skywatcher 114p OTA for sale recently for not a lot. I guess an ST102 would do a similar job on the deep sky though 🤔

 

 

Edited May 9 by John

[PeterStudz]

20 hours ago, Highburymark said:

We’ve been to Loutro a couple of times too - amazing place, and the darkest skies I’ve seen in Europe. Sadly all I had with me was a pair of binoculars. Bet the little Skywatcher was perfect.

That’s brilliant! We use to go quite often. First time must be just over 25 yrs now. Then we had our daughter… of course there was COVID. 

Last year we went for 2 weeks when many of the nights were during a full moon. Not my decision, but have to fit things in with my wife, holidays, when the dogs can be looked after etc. So on that occasion I took binoculars. Now, I like binoculars and they have their uses but a small telescope will still be so much better - if you can get it out there! 

[Dr Strange]

A bit off the beaten path but for a large aperture option in a really small package you can go with the Sumerian Optics Alkaid or Canopis dobsonian...

https://www.sumerianoptics.com/

https://www.sumerianoptics.com/gallery

Edited May 16 by Dr Strange

[jjohnson3803]

After several trips to darker sites with different scopes, I'm going to use my ST80 as my travel scope.  As mentioned, if it gets damaged or stolen, I'm not out much money and the scope with finder and a few EPs fits nicely into a plastic toolbox.

If space / weight is limited, I'll take my 50mm RACI finder that accepts different EPs, but 80mm aperture seems like a good compromise between my largest and smallest scopes.

My 72ED is small, but it's on the heavy side and my ST102 takes up a bit too much space.  Those two will be used at home or go to my club's dark site.

 

[Highburymark]

On 10/05/2024 at 17:32, PeterStudz said:

That’s brilliant! We use to go quite often. First time must be just over 25 yrs now. Then we had our daughter… of course there was COVID. 

Last year we went for 2 weeks when many of the nights were during a full moon. Not my decision, but have to fit things in with my wife, holidays, when the dogs can be looked after etc. So on that occasion I took binoculars. Now, I like binoculars and they have their uses but a small telescope will still be so much better - if you can get it out there! 

Fantastic. 
If John will forgive me for diverting the thread for a moment, this part of Crete is steeped in history. Right next to Loutro is a tiny cove known as Old Phoenix. When I walked there from Loutro it only had a couple of old buildings. Incredibly, it’s named in the Bible as the port in which St Paul tried to shelter during a storm on his last journey to Rome 2,000 years ago. This area was also used by the retreating allied forces in WW2 to get troops off the island after the German invasion. Amazing place. Even more amazing with a telescope.
 

[PeterStudz]

3 hours ago, Highburymark said:

Fantastic. 
If John will forgive me for diverting the thread for a moment, this part of Crete is steeped in history. Right next to Loutro is a tiny cove known as Old Phoenix. When I walked there from Loutro it only had a couple of old buildings. Incredibly, it’s named in the Bible as the port in which St Paul tried to shelter during a storm on his last journey to Rome 2,000 years ago. This area was also used by the retreating allied forces in WW2 to get troops off the island after the German invasion. Amazing place. Even more amazing with a telescope.
 

Yes…. In the past I’ve often done the walk to Old Phoenix! Now there’s a small hotel and a few “done-up” buildings, so not quite the same. But when I went years ago there was just a few old buildings and a small and very traditional taverna inc hanging goats. However, it did an excellent Greek salad and beer. I use to pop over for lunch and It was like going back in time. Along the walk there’s an interesting collection of ruins including the remains of an old amphitheatre part built into a natural curve in the rock. And along the way you literally tread on bits of old broken-up old pottery. My daughter likes walking up there, ambling around and seeing what we can find. 

I should also say that last year in Loutro I was pleasantly surprised to bump into a member of this forum - the astrophotographer  @900SL and his wife who arrived a little before at a sensible time when there wasn’t a moon. The only SGL member who I’ve actual meet, which is a bit sad. Of course he was there doing some astrophotography! Maybe I should do a little writeup in another more suitable section. 

[niallk]

On 07/05/2024 at 23:10, John said:

I have wondered about the Heritage 130 newt as an alternative OTA 🤔

I got a 130p as a travel scope / grab'n'go, and am contemplating going the other way - an 80mm ED frac!

The 130p is a good scope, phenomenal for the money, but on my SW Az5 tripod, it suffers from vibration The plastic helical focuser is usable, but no Feathertouch 🤣

I can't adjust the secondary on mine - the screws feel like they're welded in place 🙄

Edited May 19 by niallk