Guide / Finder scope dew shield

[Ben94]

Hi all,

My first post since taking up the hobby a good year ago! Looking to give something back to the community after the many helpful threads I’ve read which without doubt have helped me get to where I am today!

As I’m sure each beginner to the hobby knows each session brings with it a new problem that needs to be overcome. One of my most recent problems was dew forming on my guider scope lens, something that stopped my imaging session in its tracks! With the nights starting to get colder and colder this was something that I needed to resolve before even considering setting up again.

My guider scope is made up of a SkyWatcher 9x50 finder scope and a ZWO ASI 120MC-S USB 3.0 Colour Camera attached by using a Lynx Astro T Adapter (below):

As I’m sure is the case with most finder scopes, the lens sits only a few mm back from the edge of the scope making it extremely exposed, and from my experience, prone to dew forming on the colder nights.

Using some thin plywood and black sticky back plastic I’ve made what appears to be a pretty effective dew shield (below):

The shield itself slots over the end of the finder scope firmly enough to stay attached unattended and pushes up to the notch of the focus wheel making it extremely easy to install / remove each session.

Im currently 4 hours into tonight’s imaging session with no sign of dew on the lens yet! For something that can be made for a couple of quid and solves another problem I’m pretty happy with the result!

 

Hopefully this may help someone else with relatively poor DIY skills like myself ?

- Ben

[fwm891]

Nice one.

Cheapo version: