Will winter cold affect my 9.25 sct?

[northcanadian]

Hello...

I get such great advice here, and now have another question.

Now that I have an unheated storage shed/observatory for my scope and gear I'm wondering if the extreme winter cold will harm scope in any way???

Thanks in advance again!

Cheers

[todd8137]

should be fine lots of people leave there stuff out side wel covered and protected may i add

[Willarnold]

It will be fine. The cold won't affect it

[Psychobilly]

How cold does it get in northern Saskatchewan, Canada?

[Nexus 6]

Well if its going to get too much you could also get a cover for it.

I have this one for my 925

Cases, Bags and Covers for Telescopes and Other Optics

am sure there would be something similar on your side of the pond

should handle anything that the weather can throw at it.

[Ben Ritchie]

How cold does it get in northern Saskatchewan, Canada?

Damn cold, I think!

I know someone who keeps a Meade 'scope/mount outside under a storm cover in the Chicago winter, and that's been fine for several years, and at Cerro Paranal there are C11s running the seeing monitors and just wrapped up under cover against the weather. See

http://www.green-witch.com/acatalog/info_gw_scopecoat.html

So generally telescopes cope quite well with extreme conditions, especially if temperature changes are ambient. However, if ever there was a special case then I suspect northern Canada might be it! Astro-Physics have some mounts at the south pole, but I think they might have been modified?

[redfox1971]

I have heard that people leave a 100 watt bulb or maybe less just to keep the chill off weather that works with dew not sure,may try if its a cold hard winter again,i myself have built a observatory and warm room as being out early morning about 3,oclock with ice on scope not nice made me ill

[northcanadian]

Thanks all:

In the coldest stretches the temperature could be minus 30 degrees celsius or so...with climate change though, winters do seem somewhat milder than years ago!

Cheers!

[Nexus 6]

Thanks all:

In the coldest stretches the temperature could be minus 30 degrees celsius or so...with climate change though, winters do seem somewhat milder than years ago!

Cheers!

wow -30 we did get a taste of such conditions last winter, outside temp sensor read -18 at one point round this area.. shorts and t-shirt weather to you I guess

[Mr Spock]

Mine worked ok stored at -8°C (covered porch). I have no idea what -30°C is like though!

[Merlin66]

I lived in Muskoka for a couple of years, temp down to -40 c

The grease in my Poncet mounting (I was using a 6" f3.5") froze, as did my eyelid to the eyepiece....didn't even notice until I went inside and the blood started to flow!!

I'd recommend keeping the scope, if you can closer to zero degrees, just to let the baffle grease "flow" - at least a bit.......

[swamp thing]

I have no idea what -30°C is like though!

Pretty chilly when you're camping.

Brrrr! Dunno how long I'd want to observe in it.

Regards Steve

[Merlin66]

Even the foam in the car seat freezes at that temperature...as do the wheels on the car!!!

[Psychobilly]

It was the gloop thickening ( and the possibility of you getting stuck to the scope/mount or EP) that would be my concerns as well... Sometimes the electronics in the hand controller sulk a bit as well but get upto speed when they are warmed up a bit......Teh celestron handset seems better than the meade one which just used to go on a "go slow" when the mercury started to fall...

Peter...

[faulksy]

wow thats real cold i bet you get good seeing conditions though

[damnut]

Hi Northcanadian,

Should be no issues, was in Jasper when it was -52, my 102mm travel mak tube cooled down quickly! just make sure your eye does not touch the eyepiece....

Beautiful part of canada and one of my great grandpas used to trade up there. There is a very early picture of what they used as an emergency shelter...made them tough then!

Best Regards

Damian

[northcanadian]

Thanks for all your kind comments!

When I'm stargazing in the freezing cold I will have to make sure that my tongue is not hanging out at some of the sights I'll be viewing. If it sticks to the scope I may be stuck there 'til spring, lol.

Cheers

[Nexus 6]

Thanks for all your kind comments!

When I'm stargazing in the freezing cold I will have to make sure that my tongue is not hanging out at some of the sights I'll be viewing. If it sticks to the scope I may be stuck there 'til spring, lol.

Cheers

[JohnC64]

-30 Wow thats cold!!!. On the plus side, every ccd is a cooled ccd

[jamespels]

Two things I would say to look out for (tioerh than sticking bits of yourself to the scope!): make sure the grease doesn't get too thick and be aware that most batteries (NiCad and LiMH at any rate) don't perform too well at that temperature so they may go flat a lot quicker.

If the grease gets too gloopy, you could try stripping down bits fo the scope and rplacing the grease with white lithium grease, thoiugh ask the folks on here or your local astro store (not sure what "local" will mean to you ) for advice first.

HTH,

J.

[Uranium235]

It was the gloop thickening ( and the possibility of you getting stuck to the scope/mount or EP) that would be my concerns as well... Sometimes the electronics in the hand controller sulk a bit as well but get upto speed when they are warmed up a bit......Teh celestron handset seems better than the meade one which just used to go on a "go slow" when the mercury started to fall...

Peter...

Indeed, a hand controller can really suffer in the cold. When it was -22 last winter, it was a case of press the button and go make a cup of tea while it slowly grinds its way through the menus. A dew heater might be a good thing to try.