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my father used to take his telescope away with him but it depended on where abouts he was camping.

He still takes a really powerful set of binos with him now.

I take my telescope away with us on short weekend breaks now and then. The problem i have is it takes up a large space in my camper van. I leave it in the box it came in for protection. The box is about 3ft square and then the tripod takes up room too along with the accessory box. I want a travel box for it but there too expensive at £500. I might make one from 4mm ply. It's just for transit reasons so i can strap it down. So what telescope is it? Its a Celestron CPC 800 GPS (XLT). 8"

I like it a lot and have bought some filters for it and a  Baader Hyperion zoom 8-24mm for it too.  I would love to take it out more if i had a portable carry case.

Heres the Scope

binoculars for me   smalledr and easier to pack     but the idea of astronomy is absolutely brilliant for folk who take their hols in the open countryside      I always need my fix of the milky way    

as for the odd bod comments about people with telescopes.......forget it

keep an eye out for the space station on the nasa site -  it is always exciting to see it pass overhead   I shall miss the shuttle   I will always remember seeing the two of them close together as they passed over central London a few years ago   absolutely brilliant!!

I took my telescope out at the weekend. I was a bit disappointed though to be honest. I did see Jupiter and 3 of the moons. Jupiter wasn't very clear on Saturday night and when was viewing it was still quite low in the sky. I saw the two bands but not the great red spot as it wasn't clear enough. Shame. Also the moon was out and that also didn't help much either with the viewing. I did get to have a good look at the moon but again it wasn't crystal that night.. Next time maybe, it will be the night. I need some more filters too maybe a Neodymium first..