Scopes & Heat

[bigrbuk]

This might be anon buoys question, but as you'll see from my post count, I'm very new to this.

I know a scope should be cooled before viewing, but can heat cause any permanent damage to a scope? I currently have mine stored in the conservatory which has the benefit of being cool as the sun goes down, hence reducing the needed cool down time when I take outside, but on the flip side it can get very warm during the day. Is this likely to cause any long term issues?

[umadog]

It won't get damaged but consider the mass of the mirror when it comes to cooling down. You want the mirror close to ambient temperature at night. There's a fair bit of mass in a telescope mirror and takes time for that mass to change temperature. If your conservatory is heating it up a lot during the day then it will be starting from a higher temperature when night time falls. So it may take it longer to cool at night since the mirror may be warm even after the air in the conservatory has cooled. You'll need to test this to see if it's a problem. If it were me, I'd put a reflective cover over the scope to keep it cool during the day. This is what people do at star parties when the scopes are left out in the sun.

[bigrbuk]

Thanks for that.

PS I have no idea what an anon buoys question is - stupid predictive text

[umadog]

Ah, good! I was worried I was missing something

[Starhoparfa]

I don't know enough about telescopes to answer specifically but I personally wouldn't store anything remotely precious in a place that is subject to such extreme temperature fluctuations and bright light. A garage or shed might get pretty cold in the winter but they do, at least, offer a fairly stable temperature over the course of any one day/night and would certainly need less adaptation time when moving a scope outside.

[E621Keith]

Generally heat is not a problem in the UK, but best not to leave the scope under direct sun light. The sun's heat can weaken certain glue, and direct sun light on an optical surfaces can be a fire hazard.

[bigrbuk]

As it happens, it's still in the box 1) for protection, 2) to prevent the house burning down should any sunlight start hitting mirrors, but 3) because it's been cloudy every night since it's arrival

I may have to consider moving it somewhere else tho