RItchey Chretien dew heater

[Anne S]

As a fairly new owner of a 6 inch Ritchey Chretien, should I be using a dew heater on the secondary? I do have a dew shield that came with it but it's difficult to get on and, when I was checking collimation, it is getting in the way and showing on the defocused star. Its also difficult to see if dews forming in the mirrors.

I live in West Wales which often has high humidity and image in a Pulsar observatory which helps to keep dew down, though on frosty nights I do get ice in there.

 

[johnrt]

Hi Anne,

Your dew shield shouldn't be getting in the way of the FOV even when defocused, is the dew shield an off the shelf one or home made?

I have never needed to consider any kind of dew heater on my 6" RC, and leave mine out from dusk until dawn, having said that I do live in the driest part of the country, your location may need extra prevention. I would test before you buy because these scope are very resistant to dew and your obsy will help.

Welcome to the 6" RC club by the way we're an exclusive bunch!

[Anne S]

It's an adapted one made by their previous owner. It's barely long enough to fit over the 2 dovetails. The scope is listed as a 6 inch but the tube is not far off the diameter of my old 8 inch SCT. What do you use? I'm planning on taking it to Kelling occasionally.

Anne

[johnrt]

I use of of these from FLO

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dew-prevention/astrozap-flexible-dew-shield.html

[Anne S]

I take it you've got the AT6RC one. Has your RC got dovetails both top and bottom?

[johnrt]

It does yes. I swapped out the bottom one for an ADM losmandy bar for extra stability. 

[Anne S]

I've Losmandy on my eq6 but my Ioptron Ieq30 pro only takes Vixen so much as I would like to upgrade the dovetail, I can't at present.

I'm trying to fit a focus motor on it at present so improve the focussing. I've only had one try with it in January and imaged M51. I usually use my refractor for imaging. At the moment I'm not doing anything as it's constantly cloudy!

[BlueAstra]

This is the secondary dew heater I put on my 10" RC: