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Do you warm a telescope?
Ammar Majeed wrote:
Hi all, it might be a stupid question to ask here, but since i never had a telscope before and since i am planing to buy my first now so i might ask this... why do you need to cool a reflector ( and not a refractor)?? Thanks for the answer Amma Here's the opposite question. Do you warm your telescope? I live in the mid-Ohio valley. It's not as hot as a desert but there is some humidity. By 10 PM the temperature is 85F and the dew point is sometimes as high as 72F. This is just under the temperature of my basement where I keep the telescope. It seems there's a chance condensation could form if I take the telescope straight outside from the basement. Perhaps I could use a room heater to warm it up some first. -Frank |
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Do you warm a telescope?
Frank Glandorf wrote:
Ammar Majeed wrote: Hi all, it might be a stupid question to ask here, but since i never had a telscope before and since i am planing to buy my first now so i might ask this... why do you need to cool a reflector ( and not a refractor)?? Thanks for the answer Amma Here's the opposite question. Do you warm your telescope? I live in the mid-Ohio valley. It's not as hot as a desert but there is some humidity. By 10 PM the temperature is 85F and the dew point is sometimes as high as 72F. This is just under the temperature of my basement where I keep the telescope. It seems there's a chance condensation could form if I take the telescope straight outside from the basement. Perhaps I could use a room heater to warm it up some first. Just as letting a cold scope that's been outside in the wintertime simply warm up until the condensation evaporates, the same principle applies here when going from cool basement to warm outside. So, if you want to get down to observing business sooner, your best bet is simply moving it upstairs first and letting it warm up prior to taking it outside. -- Mike http://www.concentric.net/~richmann/ |
#3
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Do you warm a telescope?
In article ,
Frank Glandorf wrote: Ammar Majeed wrote: Hi all, it might be a stupid question to ask here, but since i never had a telscope before and since i am planing to buy my first now so i might ask this... why do you need to cool a reflector ( and not a refractor)?? Thanks for the answer Amma Here's the opposite question. Do you warm your telescope? I live in the mid-Ohio valley. It's not as hot as a desert but there is some humidity. By 10 PM the temperature is 85F and the dew point is sometimes as high as 72F. This is just under the temperature of my basement where I keep the telescope. It seems there's a chance condensation could form if I take the telescope straight outside from the basement. Perhaps I could use a room heater to warm it up some first. ....or perhaps you can just bring it outside? That's the easiest way to warm it up. Any condensation which may form will quickly evaporate ... after all your dewpoint is well below your outside air temperature. -- ---------------------------------------------------------------- Paul Schlyter, Grev Turegatan 40, SE-114 38 Stockholm, SWEDEN e-mail: pausch at stockholm dot bostream dot se WWW: http://www.stjarnhimlen.se/ http://home.tiscali.se/pausch/ |
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Do you warm a telescope?
Michael Richmann wrote:
Frank Glandorf wrote: Here's the opposite question. Do you warm your telescope? I live in the mid-Ohio valley. It's not as hot as a desert but there is some humidity. By 10 PM the temperature is 85F and the dew point is sometimes as high as 72F. This is just under the temperature of my basement where I keep the telescope. It seems there's a chance condensation could form if I take the telescope straight outside from the basement. Perhaps I could use a room heater to warm it up some first. Just as letting a cold scope that's been outside in the wintertime simply warm up until the condensation evaporates, the same principle applies here when going from cool basement to warm outside. So, if you want to get down to observing business sooner, your best bet is simply moving it upstairs first and letting it warm up prior to taking it outside. -- Mike http://www.concentric.net/~richmann/ My usual procedure when moving the telescope inside is to seal it up in plastic. Mostly this is to keep out the dust. In the winter it also prevents condensation by sealing out the warm, moist room air. As the cold air in the telescope warms, it expands and should push out the room air. Warming or cooling a sealed tube takes awhile so I don't use this procedure when taking the telescope outside. I also assume that condensation on the mirror is undesirable. This may not be valid. The mirror gets an annual bath but I'm not sure condensation from our smoggy skies is as clean as distilled water. However I don't have any way to quantify my assumptions. -Frank |
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Do you warm a telescope?
Here's the opposite question. Do you warm your telescope? I live in the mid-Ohio valley. It's not as hot as a desert but there is some humidity. By 10 PM the temperature is 85F and the dew point is sometimes as high as 72F. Yes! Here is a DIY circuit that warms the telescope and automatically keeps it (or optics) a small amount above ambient http://mysite.verizon.net/res0owmd/id1.html Don Clement Running Springs, California http://www.clementfocuser.com |
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