My wife bought me a heater to use out at the scope after last week when I almost froze while imaging....everything was fine and toasty for a bit while I dodged and waited for clouds to clear....
After some pretty mucky subs in a sparse region I decide to point at something bright and selected the Swan/Omega/Checkmark etc.... Every sub came up dim and the previously spot on guiding was going CRACKERS????
I looked up and thought I had some high mist or fog, but the stars were so bright, nope, that wasnt it....??? I checked PHD, BRIGHT stars yet the graph was going nutso??? What the?
Wait a minute.....I realised the scope was pointing West over my table whereas it was previously Southish....hmmmm. I turned off the heater. Whammo, PHD flatlines.....DOH! heat turbulence ....
Took some more subs, still crud, can barely see the Swan or the Trifid or anything, checked the sky, no mist, checked the guidescope, that is fine.......o hang on.....looked into the scope......primary OK, secondary is dewed over!......what a SPAZ!!!!!
So I grab the new heater and point it into the Newt to clear the secondary, NOW the primary instantly dews up.....FAR OUT, what a knob I am.....then finally, I put my brain back in, grab the 50mm dew heater on the finder scope and wrap it around the secondary and turn it on full blast....voila.....no dew in 20 seconds.....YAY!!!! Oh wait, the Primary is still fogged up......I wander inside to make a coffee, 3 mins later, I return and the primary is now clear......wonder of wonders!
So, after further 45 (9 x 5) mins of now clear imaging I packed it in as I was freezing again and found myself staring at my new heater, soooo tempted to turn it back on.
I feel your pain.... dew.... I get maybe 30-60min, then the histogram starts exiting stage left.... I just made a dew shield for my newt today as my secondary keeps fogging.
Hoping the dewshield will do it, plan B is a heater on the secondary and a new fan on the primary....
Ah your too hard on yourself. I was very lazy on Saturday night, I set up (visually) with intentions to image but came in had pizza and lost motivation
I did image though, went back out, slew to the moon and snapped away with the iphone
I feel your pain.... dew.... I get maybe 30-60min, then the histogram starts exiting stage left.... I just made a dew shield for my newt today as my secondary keeps fogging.
Hoping the dewshield will do it, plan B is a heater on the secondary and a new fan on the primary....
Nice image BTW!
Thanks Lee, I have 2 spare ports on the dew heater so I am thinking of making up a Nichrome DIY heater for the secondary. I do have a DIY shield but I didnt use it.....
Quote:
Originally Posted by seeker372011
Nice story. Been there done that
Lol, yup Narayan, thought I had lost it for a while there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rod771
Nice image Chris
Ah your too hard on yourself. I was very lazy on Saturday night, I set up (visually) with intentions to image but came in had pizza and lost motivation
I did image though, went back out, slew to the moon and snapped away with the iphone
mmmm Pizza, thats what I should have done instead....
LOL Chris, good to know Im not the only one going around in circles some nights at least you didnt blow anything up hey
Glad you got something good for your efforts, I like it a lot mate, well done and enjoyed your honest humour champ
Gotta 'ave a better night next time
Dew, what dew? NEVER had the objective dew up yet, and the shield does NOT vignette the field either.
I use a Martec HV8000 heater (no fan). Just a SLOW gentle warming. Stopsthe guidescope dewing over (and oddly, not ever had the Takahashi finder dew over, heater or no heater)
LOL Chris, good to know Im not the only one going around in circles some nights at least you didnt blow anything up hey
Glad you got something good for your efforts, I like it a lot mate, well done and enjoyed your honest humour champ
Gotta 'ave a better night next time
Cheers Bob, sometimes you have to laugh at yourself, especially when you sit there scratching your head like a spaz wondering what is wrong....
Quote:
Originally Posted by multiweb
Nicely done Chris. Some pretty cool details up close.
Thanks Marc, the Atik gets up all personal like in the nebulas face....I am going to try my focal reducer next time out, to see how that goes too
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ross G
Nice shot Chris.
I like the colour.
Ross.
Thanks Ross,
Quote:
Originally Posted by LewisM
Dew, what dew? NEVER had the objective dew up yet, and the shield does NOT vignette the field either.
I use a Martec HV8000 heater (no fan). Just a SLOW gentle warming. Stopsthe guidescope dewing over (and oddly, not ever had the Takahashi finder dew over, heater or no heater)
I really should have put my camping mattress dew shield on Lewis, I have been out 4 times this month with high dew all over the scope and didn't think the secondary would even fog up as I don't think I have ever seen this happen on the 8" newt so far.... with only a 56mm secondary, the standard Kendrick mirror heaters are too big, so I might have a go at making one.
Looking again, it seems I may need to loosen the primary clips, may have some collimation issues to sort out after my primary mirror clean recently.....hmmmmm
Looking again, it seems I may need to loosen the primary clips, may have some collimation issues to sort out after my primary mirror clean recently.....hmmmmm
Cheers
Chris
I removed the primary clips on my old reflector and siliconed the mirror in. It made a pretty big difference.
heat turbulence ....
at least you didnt blow anything up hey 
