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The Telescope
'to go'
to darker Skies
'New
Cambridge Lightweight
Telescope' is a portable telescope design for Newtonian
optics to access remote seeing sites with big optical apertures,
but less
equipment weight and size to carry. Mountainbiking
or hiking with the
lightest 12" versions
is possible to bring remote & high observing sites in reach. It is based on new structural
design principles by using composite materials, high quality optical and mechanical components, and
fasteners from anodised alloys, hazed titanium,
stainless steel, and
certain heavy duty industrial
plastics. Single
Arm OTA versus Truss Tube OTA
was normally not a
big
discussion with portable reflector telescopes since the advantages achieved with a classic truss
tube appear obvious. However, new workmaterials will offer smarter design options and lighter weight...
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Compact
Dimensions, Light Weight, and High Luminosity
The New Cambridge Lightweight Telescope design offers practical advantages:
- Very low weight
- Low static
forces in the system
- Low inertia of the
OTA (very helpful when observing moving objects)
- Ultra compact overall volume and size
- Great stiffness of the structural geometry
- Nearly zero
temperature drift
- No sensitivity against
humidity in humanly bearable climatic condition
Both, single pole OTA AND truss OTA
solutions are possible with this design. The single pole version allows very quick set up, extending the 'real'
observing time.
Truss tube versions are mainly meant for
photographic applications & bigger apertures from 16". It is possible to
install a dovetail adapter plate to attach the OTA to an equatorial
mount. Also an optional
Nylon fabric lightshroud can be customized for covering the truss tube.
This design performs best with
fast optical ratios around F/3
- F/4
This anti-vibration solution
consists of two thin carbon fiber rods to attach to the pole
and to the tube base and Alt wheel. It is stopping vibrations instantly. You
don't need them if you observe with lower or mid magnification. However, it will stop vibration at high magnification.
The obstruction (shading) caused
from these thin Valien struts is
neglectable.
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Valien
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Focuser and Coma Corrector
Lightweight
Feathertouch Focusers from Starlightinstruments
are meeting the requirements for visual and photographic purposes for
advanced travel and backpack instruments in very fast F/3 telescopes. SIPS
is a combination of an optical ParaCorr II Coma Corrector from TeleVue
with an attached lightweight focuser, ideal
with TRAVEL 16" Instruments, especially for fast ratios around F/3.
For 12" F/3.5
instruments we recommend the lighter Baader
MPCC in a HC-2 focuser.
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Iris
Baffle, Dew Shield, Dew Heaters, and more Accessories can be installed
or
attached as Upgrades
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Protection against Wind and Light
Lightweight beach shelter tents
are ideal to use with the 12" MOUNTAIN telescopes. Set up in minutes,
they protect
against straylight and wind while weighing only a couple of
pounds. They are enhancing the contrast for deep
sky observing with the low standing
12" MOUNTAIN instrument.
Sitting on a mat leads to great convenience (vs.
balancing on a
ladder in the darkness). Sitting
is better than standing if you want max. visual
sensitivity,
comfort, and concentration for getting the best possible
impressions of DS objects. A smart way of 'dome' observing
with two shelter tents...
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Your
visual observing experience may improve if you can lean back and
relax your body.
We
recommend a flat folding seat that supports your back like a deck
chair.
The instrument can be converted for high performance
digiscoping and observing for wildlife and
birding to catch the hidden scenes of nocturnal nature
A mirror telescope
of 12" will generate brighter high resolution
digiscoping footage in difficult light conditions
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Observing
Experience
There
is not much difference to tell to a normal fast ratio 12”
Dobsonian
telescope and you will get the same performance depending on mirror
quality, observing skills, performance of the eye, and the
atmospheric seeing.
The
diffraction image caused by the two blade secondary cage is not
striking - just a faint unidirectional spike pattern, unlike most
radial spike patterns caused from common 4 or 3 arm spider mounted
secondary optics.
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The
center of gravity is very low so that
the structure
provides
collimation-stable and vibration-free observing.
It will require a low observing position, e.g. to sit on a
small
chair,
or on a mat on the ground depending from the altitude of the object and the
size of the optics and focal ratio. Of
course, it is possible to put the scope on a higher level. Children love the 12" MOUNTAIN telescopes due to their low
eyepiece
position.
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Balance
Most
observation is possible without ballast
weight. However, the included water
ballast system, or a plastic-encased dumbbell weight disc (from a gym shop) will relieve
the bungee counter system, making it
more convenient to
balance the scope with heavy eyepieces.Normally,
there is no need to change the counter weight when changing
the eyepieces. Light or mid weight eyepieces do not require any
ballast.
About
5lbs ballast weight is enough for balancing 12" MOUNTAIN telescopes
with
heavy eyepieces plus coma corrector or even a camera. 16inch and
bigger telescopes won't need ballast for most observing
tasks. We used (donut shaped) water ballast bags for the 12" MOUNTAIN
size. The eyepiece weight may be limited in rather
low positions, but,
typically, we
do observe planets
at such low positions with rather
smaller eyepieces. The bungee
counter system relieves the change of eyepieces without the instrument
loosing its position.
A counter weight (5lbs)
balancing a ParaCorr PLUS Ethos13 Eyepiece.
The bungee cord system allows fine adjustment. Here
pictured with monolitical F/4 optics in a MOUNTAIN 12" instrument.
A video showing how a 12" MOUNTAIN telescope moves |
The LiteScope MOUNTAIN 12" travel telescope was selected as a 'HOT PRODUCT
2009' by Sky &
Telescope
USA
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Copyright:
2021 Vivian Bock. All rights reserved.
Revised: October, 2021
Information
in this document is subject to change without notice.
Other
products and companies referred to herein are trademarks or registered
trademarks of their respective companies or trademark holders. |
