Scope storage?

[Nigele2]

Useful stuff here for me as a beginner but I'm still at the stage, ambient temperature or not, where the little beauties take central stage as ornaments

Also my refractor I use day or night from indoors straight through the double glazing (have to be careful the neighbours don't think I'm spying).  Great views of moon crators, almost same quality as when outside, which surprised me.  The reflector sadly does nothing useful indoors in the viewing sense so he is an outside beast only - but even sitting in the lounge much more interesting than a painting on the wall

But when all the novelty wears off I can see I'll be following the tips above.  

But just one thought:  if the scope is in the garage do you store your EPs and filters there too??  Or is getting down to temperature less critical for them?

Cheers one and all

[nicks90]

eps can fog up just as badly as a reflector mirror - if not worse. So mine all stay with the scope in the garage to stay acclimatised. When its very cold, I do find the proximity of my eyeball to the glass can actually make it fog up whilst observing - but when that happens i just pop the ep in to my pocket for a few minutes to warm up past the dew point and start observing again.

[DaveHKent]

Does storing at ambient temperature mean they dew up quicker, due to being colder, and is this better than the cool down period?

At the moment, my scope sits on its collapsed tripod bungeed to hooks on the wall, in a gap between a bookcase and a cupboard. It keeps it safe from knocks but at a constant 25 degrees. Unfortunately my garage is south facing and with the metal door it heads up like an oven in summer - though winter would be fine. I was thinking making a wooden box for the shed might be better but I am a bit concerned about security.

There are too many trees in my garden for an observatory, and I pick a different observing point depending on what part of the sky I want to see each night. I have suggested to the wife that we move to a bigger house with a huge garden, nice views to the horizon in all directions, then build an observatory. She muttered something about needing money. Women!

[solo]

All my 'scopes are stored in my shed - a seperate shelf for each one and standard covers in place. my mounts just stand in there on their tripod/plinths covered with black bin bags to keep the dust off. I strengthened the shed door and fitted a sturdy lock.Thats it - no cool down problems for me.Clear sky,unlock shed,lift scopes out onto adjacent patio,skies the limit.

Cheers.John