Cooling Primary Mirror

[ronnierigel]

Hi

any advice on cooling the primary mirror on closed telescopes like a schmidt-newtonian to improve planetary imaging.

Is it worth the effort?

What mods work best?

Any hard evidence???

regards

ron

[Blue Skies (Jacquie)]

I don't know that you can....
One of the advantages of a closed tube system like that is that you minimise any internal air movements. Putting some kind of fan in the system would just ruin that stable air. However I don't have much experience with these scopes, I can only go on what others have told me, including a dedicated Maksutov owner who was always a little sad at how long it took to reach ambient temp.

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Yes, you actually can.

Apart from fitting cooling fans, this link will show you a commercial cooling unit for SCT's.

I have seen one used at our Astro Camp last March. Results were great.

http://www.lymax.com/sct/

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

ahhhh, sorry Ron. You want a method for a Schmidt-NEWTONIAN! My mistake for not reading your post correctly.

[Blue Skies (Jacquie)]

I didn't read it correctly either! D'oh! No doubt someone has worked it out, somewhere...