Lightweight Dobsonians

Easily transportable Dobsonians are very attractive scopes for persons living in areas with light pollution and unstable weather conditions. With my increasing interest for astro tourism, I'm even interested in something that can be transported as checked luggage with the airlines. Presently I'm using a 12.5-inch Portaball which I have brought with me to the Canary Islands on two occasions. In these cases I have brought along the mirror in its cell as hand luggage. The trips has given me many great views, but I have to admit that even the Portaball is a bit large and heavy as air luggage.
In Europe it is possible to get Dobsonians with larger aperture (up to 16") which are considerably lighter than the Portaball and can be collapsed to much smaller volumes for transportation. The trade-off is (probably) less stability and (definitely) a higher price. Optically they are said to be very good even though the thickness of the mirrors are much smaller than the old standard.
My question is: Is ther anything similar presently available on the American market? Is there anyone willing to take the challenge of constructing an ultralight scope in the 15 - 18-inch range? I have seen photos of the new 18-inch Obsession. Definitely a step in the right direction, but still too heavy for me.

Inge S

Inge,
If the trip to the Canary islands will be made on a regular basis, there's a way that would save a lot of trouble, cost less than high technology, and probably result in a better telescope. But, it entails risks, and sacrifices of some of your personal control of matters.

Have Tscopes build a structure for your mirror, and ship it to where you stay. That would cost about $1500 I guess. Then, just take the mirror back and forth when you travel. This would require a little help from the innkeeper, but if you're a regular customer he would probably store it for you. It wouldn't take up much more space than a lawn mower. It would be good collateral for him, in fact.
Ron

Inge Skauvik said:

Easily transportable Dobsonians are very attractive scopes for persons living in areas with light pollution and unstable weather conditions. With my increasing interest for astro tourism, I'm even interested in something that can be transported as checked luggage with the airlines. Presently I'm using a 12.5-inch Portaball which I have brought with me to the Canary Islands on two occasions. In these cases I have brought along the mirror in its cell as hand luggage. The trips has given me many great views, but I have to admit that even the Portaball is a bit large and heavy as air luggage.
In Europe it is possible to get Dobsonians with larger aperture (up to 16") which are considerably lighter than the Portaball and can be collapsed to much smaller volumes for transportation. The trade-off is (probably) less stability and (definitely) a higher price. Optically they are said to be very good even though the thickness of the mirrors are much smaller than the old standard.
My question is: Is ther anything similar presently available on the American market? Is there anyone willing to take the challenge of constructing an ultralight scope in the 15 - 18-inch range? I have seen photos of the new 18-inch Obsession. Definitely a step in the right direction, but still too heavy for me.

Inge S

Inge,
To me there are several issues. Compactness. Total weight. Weight of the heaviest component.

For air travel compactness and weight are important issues. For travel in a car, compactness is an issue but many designs have solved this. Starmaster for example, stacks up the components for travel. The Compact Precion Telescope OTA collapses (slides together) for transportation.

But the weight of heaviest component is the key issue if yone wishes to avoid back problems. One needs a telescope that easily disassembles into several pieces, and the key is the weight of the heaviest piece.

A telescope that is compact, like the new Obsessions, does not address the problem of keeping the weight of the heaviest component low. This is a problem for the Portaballs and the Teleports as well: they don't disassemble much so all the weight remains in the combination mirror box and rocker box, which is one heavy unit when you go above 10 inches.

The new Plettstone 16 inch has a low total weight but and I believe the weight of the heavist component is less than 40 pounds but you could ask Michelle Stone.

I envy your situation in Europe with regard to lightweight Dobsonians.

Bill Meyers

Check the site www.traveldob.de

Central European amateurs have developed a tradition for travelling south (e.g. to Namibia). This requires instruments like the ones shown on this site.

Inge S