Just wondering what, if any, observing equipment people take on longer travel around our great country. I'm planning a couple of 2-3 month long touring trips and want to take advantage of remote visual observing opportunities, albeit casual. Will have the wife, kids and all the gear in tow.
I'm interested in both personal experiences and suggestions. I see there's the odd trip report posted here. The catch in my situation is limited packing space and risk of damage due to offroad travelling and corrugations etc. My current gear is 10x50 Olympus binos and an 8" Bintel dob. Obviously the dob will be staying at home and the binos will be invited .
I've been thinking of a ~80mm refractor, alt/az mount and zoom eyepiece combo. Possibly even using a camera tripod (Manfrotto 055) as this can serve dual use. A vixen Porta II or similar could also be an option. A spotting scope could also make the grade with known astronomical caveats, but useful for terrestrial and viewing by the kids.
On the DIY side have you thought of making a Portaball Scope ? I saw some amateur build ideas that used a 6" or 8" mirror, a round metal basin and a focusser on a 'stick' basically.
Or a pack down dob of similar size. Mirror case and base all pack into a box and just a few poles extra to carry.
I suggest it because you could carry a lot more aperture that way for those dark sites you are likely to encounter.
If I can pickup a cheap 6" or 8" mirror I'd be very interested in building either one of these both for the project fun value and to see how well they work.
Great you are doing this trip Simon , you wont regret it .
I did a 5 week leisurely drive from Darwin to Perth here at the end of last year and its a trip I wont ever forget , just an awesome ( HUGE!) continent this Austrialia is .
One stand out was 3 days and 3 nights spent at 'Wolf Creek' crater , eerie spot , super dark and I did not see a soul in the time I spent there ,, cool place .
Anyway mate I used my Takahashi sky90 on Vixen SP mount as my main scope on this trip , over 5000km's .
The mount , counter weights , hand controller and other bits fit in one alloy case from Jaycar you know , the 400x400x129mm jobby's with the Tak OTA with finder and diagonal fitted , battery and eyepieces in another , these take up minimal room together .
The tripod lives with the camping gear, .
Enjoy the trip , if I was you a $500 60mm f7 Long Perng triplet's from Andrews on a sturdy photographic tripod would fit your bill well as you don't need big aperture when visiting some of the darkest places on the planet , I could see M31 ( Andromeda Galaxy ) naked eye from wolf creek .
The binoculars for sure, but how about something like an 80 mm / 90 mm short-tube refractor, or a 90 mm / 127 mm Mak? Either of these is compact enough, light enough and robust enough to pack easily into a suitcase or back-pack.
I recently bought a TwinStar-branded 90 mm Mak on eBay for US$149.99 (plus US$80.58 USPS priority international shipping to Australia - it was delivered to Brisbane less than 2 weeks after I purchased it). That price includes two eyepieces, a basic Alt-Az tripod, and a 45-degree "erect image" prism, which makes it a good terrestrial scope as well as a travel scope for star-gazing. (At 1,200 mm focal length, it's not exactly a "wide field" telescope, but I get 1.3 degree FoV @ 30x magnification with a 40 mm Plossl eyepiece.)
The OTA uses a standard camera mount, so you only need to pack one tripod for both telescope and camera / binocular use. I kept the Styrofoam box that the OTA came in, which is good for packing it into my luggage. It really is an excellent travel scope - and the optics are actually very good (exceptional for a budget telescope), particularly when using Plossl eyepieces that I already owned. (The supplied Kellner eyepieces are OK, but my Plossls are better.)
For convenience, it teams really well with a 7.5 mm - 22.5 mm zoom lens - all you need to pack is 1 x OTA, 1 x collapsible tripod / Alt-Az mount, and 1 x zoom eyepiece. Add a screw-on T-mount tele-adapter , and you've also got a 1,200 mm lens for your DSLR camera, which makes a wonderful wild-life lens.
And all of that kit (including my camera) easily fits into a small suitcase, with room for a change of clothes and a bottle of rum (for those cold evenings under the stars).
I have a 102 mak on a Celestron Nexstar SLT mount. This is what I take with me when I go away in my caravan. The whole thing is so portable and it doesn't take up much room or weight. It is also a great grab and go set up,
problem with mak's they are difficult to get good terrestral views (eg whale watching)
I have a Nikon fiedscope 82mm which is prefect, compact, waterproof
an alt/az mount or fluid head on a photo tripod is a good mounting idea
The portaball definitely fits into the interesting category, but might be a bit too much scope and assembly. Not quite the quick and casual I'm looking for this time. The openness could also be an issue with dirt and dust where I'm travelling though. Certainly a great option for home though and something to keep in mind.
I have to say I'm quite shocked at the prices for good quality spotting scopes. More than some premo triplets! Cost is also an issue with potential theft or damage. Security is a real concern when travelling and staying at more public places. Might have to check used prices.
Not having owned a Mak, what are realistic/usable cool down times for casual use? I've been eyeing off a 127 MCT anyway for portability and solar system. A Mak or shortish tube refractor should be easy for the kids to take a peek too.
In general I have been researching the well in fashion grab 'n' go option as a complement to the dob, which I still find a pain to setup in my particular backyard with several sets of steps to traverse. 4 trips for base, tube, chair and accessories. I'm really hoping a grab 'n' go style solution is what I can also take away on these and other trips with an understanding of the aperture and power limitations.
This is designed as a travel scope and packs up into a small pack and the poles are separate. I alos have a small case which holds a red dot finder, collimation gear, 2 eyepieces and the SkyVector computer.
If I was redoing this I would use all 12mm rather than a mix of 12mm and 18mm ply. Works really well and with care the push to guiding is very accurate. Views are very nice at a dark site.
The portaball definitely fits into the interesting category, but might be a bit too much scope and assembly. Not quite the quick and casual I'm looking for this time. The openness could also be an issue with dirt and dust where I'm travelling though. Certainly a great option for home though and something to keep in mind.
I have to say I'm quite shocked at the prices for good quality spotting scopes. More than some premo triplets! Cost is also an issue with potential theft or damage. Security is a real concern when travelling and staying at more public places. Might have to check used prices.
Not having owned a Mak, what are realistic/usable cool down times for casual use? I've been eyeing off a 127 MCT anyway for portability and solar system. A Mak or shortish tube refractor should be easy for the kids to take a peek too.
In general I have been researching the well in fashion grab 'n' go option as a complement to the dob, which I still find a pain to setup in my particular backyard with several sets of steps to traverse. 4 trips for base, tube, chair and accessories. I'm really hoping a grab 'n' go style solution is what I can also take away on these and other trips with an understanding of the aperture and power limitations.
Many terrestrial spotting scopes are weather-proof / water-proof / dust-proof, which is obviously a nice feature for a travel scope, where it may not always be treated as carefully as your home-based astro scope. The weather-proofing costs money, and it also has a drawback that you are generally limited to the fixed eyepiece (often a 3x zoom) that it ships with.
You will find some much cheaper spotting scopes at places like Australian Geographic or eBay than the premium BinTel offerings, by the way! Given the issues of potentially harsh treatment, and risk of damage or loss, it might make sense to sacrifice a bit of quality for affordability when shopping for a travel scope - second-hand or bargain shopping can be a good choice. (In the case of my TwinStar Mak, I think I got lucky - the price was great, but the optical quality and build quality are genuinely far better than I expected.)
A Grab-and-Go astro scope (short-tube refractor or Mak) can open up to let the dust and moisture in (but they are much easier to keep dust-free than a Newt) - this shouldn't be a big problem, unless your passion is star-gazing during dust storms, or whale-watching while surf-fishing from a rocky headland!
As dannat says, Maks may not be the best choice for primarily terrestrial use because of their long focal length, but a 40 mm Plossl works pretty well for me - 1.3 degree FoV, which gives about 25 metres FoV at 1,000 metres. (That's about the same as his Nikon 82 mm Fieldscope.) That's pretty tricky for close-up wildlife observation of anything other than stationary targets (koalas and sloths are fine!), but it gives a nice view of boats and whales etc at a distance of more than half a kilometre or so.
A big plus for Maks (compared to refractors) is that because they are so short, and typically mounted right at the primary mirror end, they have a very short "lever arm" from the focuser / eyepiece to the pivot axes of the mount, so they are very tolerant of being touched while focussing etc, and vibrations damp down quickly, as long as you have a reasonably stable mount - great for teaching the kids how to use a telescope, because the target will still be in view unless they give it a really solid yank.
As for cool-down time on a small Mak - half an hour to an hour is generally plenty. At home, I just take my scope outside while I am having dinner, and it's ready to use when I go outside. (Note: I live in sub-tropical Brisbane, so the temperature differential from inside to outside isn't as big as it can be in colder climates.) When you are travelling, simply unpack it while you are unpacking the car and setting up your camp site, or moving into a motel room - as long as you leave it out of the sun, it will be equalised and ready to use as soon as you are.
My Mak lives on its tripod at home - I can carry it outside in one trip, complete with motor drive, battery pack, and a couple of eyepieces, so it's hard to beat for convenience and quick set-up.
If it was me, much as I would love to take one of my current scopes , I would seriously consider buying something like a short-tube 80mm or 102mm f/5. The optics are good enough for wide field astro/terrestrial observing (Maks can't do wide field) but mostly they are cheap, so you won't be crying if it gets trashed by the kids, the weather or a dingo!
There is another option to take on your trip, and one that packs not only aperture, but also packing piece of mind.
I recently took my two 12" Marana reflectors up to Queensland's Astrofest this last weekend. In the car was also my 17.5" Karee dob. All packed into the one car along with all my camping gear and stuff. The two 12" scopes packed one on top of the other. Have a look at the pics below to see how jammed in everything was into my Mitsubishi Outlander. A round trip of 2150km from Sydney, and each of the scopes is in brilliant nick, safe and sound. I've already clocked up several thousand kms with the two Marana, and many more thousands with the 17.5".
What you don't need on a long road trip is to have to walk on eggshells because you have a scope in the back. I designed my Gondwana telescopes with this very thing in mind, and give an aperture that packs some considerable punch. Kinda leaves your current 8" dob shaking in its boots, eh!
How does Marana perform? Well, it's had a 13mm Ethos with a Paracorr hanging off its focuser, and the image stayed tack sharp! Oh, and the scope is perfectly balanced too - no action changing mechanism in sight.
Those custom newts are impressive and would certainly attract attention, not something I really want on the road . Thanks for those suggestions and the reads.
This will take some more thought and hopefully some more replies will trickle through. Please chime in if you've taken any astro equipment on touring travels.
A short tube could do the trick but new prices are a bit lame. A used ED80 isn't too much more $. Obviously a lot of internet disk space has been filled with ED80 comparisons. Although with an ED80, 127 MCT and 8" dob I might end up with a nice set of reasonable options.
I realise I've put up a couple of competing concerns being travel vs home but appreciated the replies all the same.
Simon, no problem! More a case of letting it be known that there are larger aperture alternatives now around.
For what it's worth, a 5" SCT is a good option too. I had a C5 for many years & found it to be a very capable instrument. Some aperture, focal length, photo capable, & with a tight butt too. Even 6" SCT. Would be a good compliment to your 8" dob (won't shake in its boots so much either )
Simon, It depends on how much you want to spend and also whether you are able to make something like Malcolm (I've made one too) or can buy one of Alex's magnificent Maranas. You may just decide to settle on a cheap refractor on an alt/az mount if the astronomy is just going to be a side interest.
If it was me, much as I would love to take one of my current scopes , I would seriously consider buying something like a short-tube 80mm or 102mm f/5. The optics are good enough for wide field astro/terrestrial observing (Maks can't do wide field) but mostly they are cheap, so you won't be crying if it gets trashed by the kids, the weather or a dingo!
My 80mm f5 and a photo tripod with a side slung bar ( no counter weight needed ) is my grab and go. A dark site with that blew me away a few years back, got lost in all the stars !!
Graeme, very impressed with yours and Malcolm's build skills. Very fast reflectors! I'm uncertain about the mirrors and openness for extensive touring needs though.
Pragmatism would dictate looking towards a budget short tube acro as MortonH and ZeroID have suggested. If it happened to get hammered on the trip I wouldn't be too concerned. I would be more worried about the eyepieces. Not impressed with the buy new package offerings on these with 45deg diagonals and bundled mounts.
The CN forums are awash with grab 'n' go and travel scope discussions with a lot a people talking up even 60-72mm quality scopes. Maybe not so useful in my light polluted backyard though.
I'm researching all options, even 4-6" SCTs and 4-5" Maks. I'll report back here eventually with whatever setup I go for as a reference point for others. Happy to keep the discussion going though!!!
I might even have to post a wanted ad in the classifieds
I'm researching all options, even 4-6" SCTs and 4-5" Maks. I'll report back here eventually with whatever setup I go for as a reference point for others. Happy to keep the discussion going though!!!
I might even have to post a wanted ad in the classifieds
Keep your eyes open to the IIS classifieds. I'm thinking of selling my ETX105.
Having gone travelling several times with scope, the space occupied is the real premium. I'd have to say the choices are easy:
a) one of Alex's compact dob's; having seen his 12" it packs into a box that would shame most 5" SCT's.
b) a 5" SCT or Mak, which can fit on a solid camera tripod. The extra aperture wins easily over small refractor, yet they are compact and effectively sealed from dust.
I can say from personal experience forget a 4" refractor, 7" Mak or 8" SCT, these are all too big unless you are planning on taking a trailer.
c) cull the eyepieces and other crap down to the bare essentials. 3 eyepieces, max.
I can say from personal experience forget a 4" refractor, 7" Mak or 8" SCT, these are all too big unless you are planning on taking a trailer.
Short-tube refractors (fast, short focal length) can be a good travel-scope option.
I've got a 90 mm / 500 mm FL refractor, which fits in a padded carry bag which is just 50 cm x 25 cm x 25 cm, complete with tripod and equatorial mount, and room for plenty of eyepieces and other accessories.
Around OZ travel scope
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Oh, and the scope is perfectly balanced too - no action changing mechanism in sight.
. Thanks for those suggestions and the reads.
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