Quote:
Originally Posted by richard2600
That's something I did not know about the thermal equilibrium with outside temp
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Fully enclosed telescopes like Maks and SCTs take longer to reach equilibrium than open telescopes like a Newt. The bigger the telescope (and the thicker / heavier the glass), the longer it will take, so Maks (with their thick front meniscus) typically take a bit longer than a comparably-sized SCT (which have thinner corrector plates). The 4SE isn't all that big, so it should be quite usable in half an hour or so. (It's "usable" straight away, of course, but you might think you have bought a dud if you don't give it a chance to stabilise!)
Just take your scope outside half an hour to an hour before you are going to start viewing, and you should be fine - e.g. put it outside before you sit down to dinner or to watch the 7:00 News. (Make sure it's in the shade if it's still daylight when you take it outside - the last thing you want to do is to start warming it up!)