Safe indoors with some old friends....

[Kinch]

Yesterday I was too worried about the hreat out in the observatory during the day. We had 37°C air temp. here in SE Spain and regardless of shade from the Sun, that air temp was exactly the same within the Obs. I am not generally here at this time of the year and for sure this is the 1st time i have had this FSQ130ED out there in such heat. (Covid 19 has grounded people travelling in more than just one direction). When I felt the OTA quite warm to the touch....there was no alternative but to take it in. (I don't have fans or A/C set up in the Obs).

Today...the FSQ130, EFW3, ML16200 Camera, FS60 guide scope & QHY camara are now safely indoors amongst "OLD" friends (my other hobby).

No more astro images for a while I think!

[JamesF]

Apparently in the south east of the UK it wasn't any cooler either, though over this side of the country we didn't get to much above 30C.

The other instruments you have look very interesting too.  I'm guessing the two in the centre of the picture are sextants though I'm not certain.  What are the others?

James

[Sunshine]

with friends like that, who needs human interaction? curious, what is the box shaped object tied to the dew shield?.

[DaveL59]

The scope may well have been fine but electronics perhaps less so. My scopes sit in the conservatory and that hits 45-50+C on a hot sunny day, perhaps slightly less with the door open but not by much. So far they've not suffered any issues, tho I guess the grease will likely need renewing in the mounts sooner than normal. Either way, your gear and what you feel more comfortable doing so rescuing them into a cooler environment isn't a bad thing to do. For me, space is the issue in a small place so they kinda have to live out there and tough it out...

[Kinch]

Thanks for the feedback and interest ......

29 minutes ago, JamesF said:

I'm guessing the two in the centre of the picture are sextants though I'm not certain.  What are the others?

The two instruments that you refer to are more commonly known as quadrants (which were later called octants which in turn developed into the sextant that we know today). To the left ....a much later instrument - a Station Pointer (for plotting a position on a chart - for the most part for close to shore navigation). Above, one can see part of a backstaff....this from about 1750....in use, one can say, before the quadrants.....though in truth they were slow to be replaced by quadrants because the remained much cheaper for the seafarer to buy. Above - very top - just a hint of a full circle (by Troughton)...quite specialist and used on land rather than at sea.

35 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

curious, what is the box shaped object tied to the dew shield?

Flip-Flat by Alnitak.

19 minutes ago, DaveL59 said:

My scopes sit in the conservatory and that hits 45-50+C on a hot sunny day

That is a relief to know. I was really worried about the scope....this is my 'baby' that I could not think of taking a chance with . Oddly, I was not too worried about electronics (camera, computer etc)....I reckon the must get hot anyway during operation and once there was no wild swing in temps....I just thougt they would be OK.

[DaveL59]

wow that's pretty interesting your other hobby 🙂

For the electronics, I guess if they aren't fired up they'd survive, tho I'd wonder about any batteries and electrolytic capacitors in the long haul. As you say they do get warm when running but then they've active cooling to help keep things under control. The scopes are likely a larger capital investment though so priorities were in the right place I'd say 😉 

[Kinch]

1 minute ago, DaveL59 said:

The scopes are likely a larger capital investment though so priorities were in the right place I'd say 😉 

That FSQ130 scope ....is irreplacable, I would say 😟....they don't make them anymore and I have never seen a 2nd hand one for sale yet. So yes.....that gets top priority 😉