Dust cap

[Maddison]

Hi all, just come back in after observing the moon put scope away with dust cap on,then thought should I leave it off till the morning. Got me thinking what other people do after a observing session. As always look forward to many worlds of wisdom. Cheers    

                               Barry

       

 

 

 

 

[PaulR1]

I tend to leave the caps off if there is dew on the lenses , hope that helps

[Ruud]

You don't want to trap any moisture. I use a hair dryer to evaporate any dew and then put on the end cap.

 

[DRT]

If your scope is cold but dry put the lens cap on before taking it indoors. If it is fogged-up leave the cap off to let it dry naturally as it warms up.

 

[Maddison]

Many thanks, thought I saw some spots moisture on primary, will leave  cap off till I go to bed. Cheers    

                    Barry

[cletrac1922]

Barry

Been in a warmer climate, tend to put dust caps on, prior to storing in carry case

John

[paulastro]

I always cap my scopes before bringing them in unless there is already moisture on them in which case I bring them indoors uncapped to let them dry off, though I sometimes give them some assistance with a hair dryer.  The trouble is if you don't cap them there's a good chance some moisture will condense on them as soon as you set foot indoors assuming your house is warmer than outside.  Also, when you bring them indoors capped, resist the temptation to take a peek as if the scope hasn't warmed up to the room temperature they will then mist up anyway.  Best to leave them capped until morning, then take a look before putting the scope away just in case there is some moisture you didn't notice before you brought it indoors.  If there is, either leave it open to dry naturally or use a hair dryer to help it on it's way.

[Maddison]

Many thanks everyone    

[SIDO]

Dew has a harder time forming in a  breeze, I use a house fan a far enough distance away to cause a soft air movement around the scope. This also helps to continually acclimate the glass to its surroundings as the temperature continues to drop, another side effect is it helps to keep the bugs off.

[N3ptune]

After an observation, the telescope is put down in my dry room. I open the transport bag, remove the front cap and put a light tissue to block the opening, leave this to dry until the next morning (or more) so all water can properly evaporate. Same thing with the eyepiece, I put a tissue over the eyepiece box to protect from dust, then I let them dry all night. Next morning put the caps on, close the box with silica bags inside.

Great way to protect against mildew formation.

Telescope also has a couple of silica bags inside the transport bag.

 

[Charic]

 I leave  my Skyliner at an angle of about 45° overnight in the kitchen, dust cap fitted, but with the 2" aperture in the cap open/exposed.
Come the morning, I'll recap the 2" aperture, cotton sheet and  plastic cover the Skyliner and heave it back into its cupboard.

[zacrobmer]

For the first several months that I owned my Z10 I always left the caps off (end caps and focuser dust cap) when I brought the scope in from a night of viewing. I would just drape a pillow case over the end of the scope to keep any dust out. That worked very well. 

I later switched to cloth end caps for the dob, so so I just cap in the field and bring the scope in for storage. The cloth end caps let the tube breath. 

[Hallingskies]

My own experiences suggest that any sort of dewing, on mirrors or lenses, is to be avoided if at all possible.  If you have no dew on your optics, then cover before you take them indoors.  If you do, get them dry with a quick blast of warm air (e.g. from a hair dryer - I had a 12v one that was just the job), or better still, invest in heater strips for your optics.  

When your optics get wet, dust will get stuck on and eventually build up to the point where they have to be cleaned.  That was a real pain for my VC200L, which wound up with a primary mirror like the surface of the moon after a couple of years, and fuzzed everything until I cleaned it.  

Since I adopted a zero tolerance of dew, and always “cap off” before packing up, I have not had to clean any of my optics for the past ten years.  In open scopes like my VC200L, I also put a little sachet of desiccant inside when storing it.  Over the top, maybe, but it works for me.