Scope care

[Atomiccyclone55]

Just been presented with a Dobsonian by my missus for my Birthday, bless her.  Can I keep it in the garage with a cover over it?  

[Alien 13]

Bless her indeed its probably best to let it get plenty of airflow a couple of cheap shower caps will keep the spiders out.

Alan

[ronin]

Think that quite a few people do keep their scopes in the garage under a cover of some variety so cannot foresee a problem.

[damnut]

Just a matter of keeping spiders & dust out as much as you can.

[Uplooker]

Most definitely.  Certainly means that you're scope is cooled already, before you come to use it. Would also go along with the advise above regarding the sheets / shower caps -  none of the dust or spiders with do any damage to the scope just generate work cleaning them out!

[laudropb]

I have kept mine in the garage for 18 months with no adverse effects, touch wood. I do have a cover over it which I bought from Greenwitch and also have shower caps on the top and bottom.

[Coastliner]

Agree with all the above. Best place to keep it wrt cooling. Cheapo showercaps from Tesco.

[astronymonkey]

What a good pressie,

Yes you can keep it under cover in the garage ..... which scope do you have ?

Cheers

[Qualia]

Just as the other members have suggested, many people - myself included - store their scopes in garages, sheds, lock ups without a worry but dust can be a big problem, so plastic shower caps or something similar for both ends to protect your scope from dust, moisture, and bugs is a good idea. 

Within reason, temperatures shouldn't hurt your scope either but do let it cool down or warm up to the outside air temperature an hour or so before observing. I store my own truss dob in a room which during the summer reaches quite unpleasant temperatures and I have yet to note any ill affect. 

Carrying around your scope, or vibrations from car trips out to dark sites won't damage your scope either, but you will need to collimate it from time to time to draw from the scope its maximum potential. I collimate before every session. There are plenty of threads on SGL on collimation and Shane has probably written the single best guide for this; you can find it here. 

The base of your scope will more than likely be made from some kind of wood, so, again, no worries but keep it dry and clean and wipe it down from time to time. 

Finally, mirror cleaning. By cleaning the mirror one is putting unnecessary wear and tear on the delicate and expensive coatings. It follows that the best policy to follow is one of care. The rule being - do no harm and you can't really do any harm to the optics if you don't clean them. My advice, then, is to try and not clean the telescope's optics unless it is really necessary. 

Instead of washing the mirrors, use a large bulb blower to blow off any obvious debris, pollen, insects, after each night's session. In a few years, if the primary starts to sprout its very own ecosystem, then it might be worth a tender wash, but only if it affects the contrast and quality of image.