Traveling with a telescope

I am planing a trip to South America, and of course, I will not be able to take my 10'' Dob. I am about to buy a new and more portable telescope, that fits into the airplane overhead compartment. Can anyone tell me if a 8'' schmidt cassegrain can do this job, or is it too big? Should I go with a 6'' instead? Would you guys recommend a special case for these scopes?

Thanks,

Gus

8" SCT is too big unless you just wrap it in bubblewrap.
22" x 14" x9" is the standard dimension that is allowed on board.

Rolando

Gustavo Westin said:

I am planing a trip to South America, and of course, I will not be able to take my 10'' Dob. I am about to buy a new and more portable telescope, that fits into the airplane overhead compartment. Can anyone tell me if a 8'' schmidt cassegrain can do this job, or is it too big? Should I go with a 6'' instead? Would you guys recommend a special case for these scopes?

Thanks,

Gus

An 8" SCT is far too big to put in the overhead. Not sure about a 6".

When I took my wife to New Zealand, I picked up a Televue TV-101 for the trip to show her the Southern Milky Way. It worked out great. I checked it as baggage, and it was marked fragile. It handled the trip just fine.

I faced this decision a couple of years ago and decided to pack only a DSLR and a small tripod where both would fit in a standard carry-on bag. For my "astro" fix, we scheduled a visit to a public observatory where they had Dobs, a 12" SCT in a dome, and knowledgeable, bilingual guides to show us around the unfamiliar skies. This worked out well, and not having to lug around or worry about an expensive, delicate OTA was a net plus because on most days when darkness fell we were too tired to do much observing.

An alternative might be to pack something really small like an ETX-90, or for wide fields, a pair if Canon's IS binoculars.