Anyone air condition/cool their obs?

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

Hi folks,

I've been looking through this forum with great interest at the many solutions people have come up with for their personal observatories. One thing that really stands out is that by far the greatest number of obs built are for the imaging fraturnity.

While insulation goes a long way to protecting gear, it does not mean that the scope is protected from heating. And this leads to the constant problem of scope cooling.

I guess the question that come to my mind: Does anyone air condition/cool their obs constantly or prior to a session to get a jump on thermal equilibrium?

I am not so much talking about ventilation during storage. This is important for mould control. An observatory can become a heat trap unless this is dealt with. Professional observatories are also giant cool rooms, refrigerated during the day to keep their huge instruments cool during the day as a warm scope of that size might take ALL night to reach equilibrium, if not longer. Anyone gone to this extent too to maximize their productivity?

If so, how do you do it? Do you use a constantly operational system, or one that activates just an hour or two prior to use?

I guess that there are also systems out there that also are designed to just reduce humidity build up inside the obs.

Cheers,

Mental.

[glend (Glen)]

Personally, air conditioning a backyard observatory is going to be costly as most are uninsulated to allow rapid cooldown after sunset. Heat extraction is going to cost less. If its feasible remove the scope during hot days or only put it out there when your going to be using it. A dehumidifier is a must in my opinion for all obs but put it on a timer - turn it on for an hour or two after you close the roof and maybe an hour in the morning, the heat extractor will do the rest.

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

Interesting points, Glen. You've had me now thinking about a dehumidifier where I am. Not just scopes I keep. Thanks

Yes, air con is costly though I would have thought if you have gone to the trouble and expense of an obs, particularly one with very expensive gear & a heavily decked out obs, an air con would make sense.

But that's what this thread is about. No judgement on my part. This is just a discussion thread seeing how people deal with all the heat issues. And there's cameras, computers, batteries, even our own bodies produce 150 to 200 watts of heat - that's just while the obs is operational. Just seeing how and to what extent things can be taken

[graham.hobart (Graham stevens)]

Hi Alex, I built mine on a wooden deck, with pier going through the deck into the concrete base-it makes the pier longer but I have a slatted wooden floor with an air space underneath and flow of air around the obs plus I have a solar powered fan that runs constantly. On the North facing side I also have shade cloth around the outside walls and the dome inside is painted black.
It still gets hot in Summer (yes! even in Tassie) but cools down quickly when the lids open and the flow of air gets going.
The major POA is that I often drop things like lens caps/ pencils/ leads/ that go through the floor then I have to crawl under the deck with all the bugs and retrieve them - probably something you North Islanders wouldn't rush to do!!
I wouldn't be without my obsy now though, life is so much simpler with it. Especially with younger kiddies making travelling to dark skies a difficult enterprise. Anyway Sadie my eldest calls my obs "Daddies Home"!!
NB I forgot about the 8" newt in my shed -do you still want it?
Graz

[Terry B]

Simple answer is no.
My observatory has lots of natural ventilation and the scopes seem to cool down very easily. I get dew when it gets cold but we mostly have very low humidity so no need for a dehumidifier either. I've never had dew inside the observatory unless the roof is off.
If you are on the coast then I could see the need.
The big observatories certainly keep the scopes cool during the day. They also have a premium on observing time so need to be able to use the scope as soon as it is dark. This is less of a problem with relatively little scopes and more free time.