Does my scope NEED to cool down and why?

[nickdud]

I was wondering if I NEED to cool my scope or is it just for focus reasons on long exposure photography? It is often mentioned on here that cooling time and cloud cover go hand in hand lol

(As you see below mine is a refractor, is cooling just a reflecting scope problem?)

(I may be sometime, I'm on the phone!)

[jimmyjamjoejoe]

Yes, all scopes need cooling to eliminate thermal currents in the tube. Generally for low power work you can get away with viewing straight away, but you'l certainly notice a MASSIVE difference in high power/planetary viewing.

[acey]

And in DSO viewing you'll quite possibly notice no difference at all. Whenever I set up my 12" dob I start observing straight away: for faint fuzzies (low or high power) it's fine.

[ollypenrice]

Refractors cool down fast.

Olly

[Russe]

for the moon you'd notice it massively!!!

stick a webcam at the end and click a 4 min video - you'll see it

wait, got a youtube link here somewhere, where you can see a lot of wobbling on the moon

Here:

[Russe]

in comparison: moon 01_03_2012 19_01_45..avi - YouTube

(might still be uploading) (19:59pm)

[Grunthos]

I was wondering if I NEED to cool my scope

Strictly speaking, no, you don't need to let your scope cool down. No more so than you need to wait an hour+ for optimum night vision or buy multiple sizes of lenses.

Allowing your scope to cool down for an appropriate time does usually enhance the view (but it's not mandatory;)).

[nickdud]

Thanks all:D

As I(yea yea! Still a newbie haha) was wondering I also thought it would be good newbie advice for this years bbc-sgl peeps, any more thoughts still welcome.

I'm on the phone, I may be some time;)

[Russe]

moon 01_03_2012 19_01_45..avi - YouTube

after some time outside - by far less wobbly

[Si W]

From experience I have found that my Schmidt Newtonian does take longer to cool down as it has glass at both ends, and is in effect a sealed unit, the air inside the tube is warmer as apposed to a standard Newtonian where the front end is open so warm air can escape easily and cooler air can circulate .

[LukeSkywatcher]

I've never found the need to cool down my refractors. By the time you set them up..........they are cooled down enough and ready to use.