Where Do You Keep Your 'Scopes??

[DaveL59]

6 minutes ago, Telescope40 said:

Hello. 

Not wanting to derail the thread. Quick Q. I see the scopes stood to attention. 
Thought about this with my 2 fracs. Leave them in their cases but stand them vertical. Would this xause any issues. 
Thinking movement of “fluid” maybe in the objective lens unit. However. Unsure if there is any “fluid” that could move tbh. 🙃🙃 ?? 
Have a SW 150ED and Stellarvue 102 scopes. 
John 

well glass is considered to be a fluid, so I guess over a long enough period of time it could if left undisturbed eventually flow such that the lens changes shape. That'd apply whichever orientation you store it in but in our lifetimes and our grandchildren's even it'd not be noticeable. Grease in the focuser on the other hand might flow if temperatures get high enough but other than that I'd expect they'd be just fine.

Edited November 2, 2020 by DaveL59

[AlexK]

My smallish scopes (ETX-125 and Astroscan) are capped on display shelves. 

The 12" full steel OTA Dob is on its base in the wall closet on the 4-wheel furniture dolly, with the OTA upside down (tied to the wall). Both ends are covered with tight fit plastic trash bags. That way the residual dust is collected only on the secondary and easy to blow through the focuser. The primary is at maximal safety from falling debris and possible live crawlers. The focuser is protected by the wall of the base down below (as I have my camping/travel gear in that closet which I might move around on occasion). Also, as I have the Velcro dots mod for the primary holder cell, that prevents overcompression of the Velcro as well.

Surely, the best way would be to keep the OTA horizontally to minimize the dust settling, but I don't have such an enclosed space readily available for grab and go. For over 10 years my z12 is stored like that after field trips. No issues.

[Deadlake]

2 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Near/in my bed

thats +100 on Ed's score, you need help. 😀
 

 

 

[JeremyS]

5 minutes ago, Deadlake said:

thats +100 on Ed's score, you need help. 😀
 

 

 

Yes, I’m not proud if it 😬

[bish]

2 hours ago, John said:

I have a "scope corner" in the dining room for the OTA's:

Nice scopes. Scares me how the fracs are all stood up - probably because of my bouncy dogs!

[bish]

My dob mainly lives in the veranda and my mak in the spare bedroom.  

[niallk]

This earned me 2pts on Ed Ting's thing 😂

Corner of the bedroom... there's an eq platform tucked in there too

[Tiny Clanger]

51 minutes ago, DaveL59 said:

well glass is considered to be a fluid, so I guess over a long enough period of time it could if left undisturbed eventually flow such that the lens changes shape. That'd apply whichever orientation you store it in but in our lifetimes and our grandchildren's even it'd not be noticeable. Grease in the focuser on the other hand might flow if temperatures get high enough but other than that I'd expect they'd be just fine.

I seemed to recall the 'glass is a liquid' statement triggering the QI klaxon , so just checked , and it is an amorphous solid . No worries about it flowing over time either :

"Whatever flow glass manages, however, does not explain why some antique windows are thicker at the bottom. Other, even older glasses do not share the same melted look. In fact, ancient Egyptian vessels have none of this sagging, says Robert Brill, an antique glass researcher at the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, N.Y. Furthermore, cathedral glass should not flow because it is hundreds of degrees below its glass-transition temperature, Ediger adds. A mathematical model shows it would take longer than the universe has existed for room temperature cathedral glass to rearrange itself to appear melted."

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-fiction-glass-liquid/

To be honest, I would have said liquid too , right up until Mr S. Fry told us otherwise !

[randomic]

59 minutes ago, DaveL59 said:

well glass is considered to be a fluid, so I guess over a long enough period of time it could if left undisturbed eventually flow such that the lens changes shape. That'd apply whichever orientation you store it in but in our lifetimes and our grandchildren's even it'd not be noticeable. Grease in the focuser on the other hand might flow if temperatures get high enough but other than that I'd expect they'd be just fine.

The whole glass being a very slow flowing liquid thing is a myth. You don't have to worry about your lenses.

https://www.cmog.org/article/does-glass-flow

[randomic]

On topic: Nice try, telescope thief!

But seriously I have displaced a wardrobe of my fiancée's clothes and it is now my astro gear cupboard.

[Nyctimene]

Binoculars in the house; the scopes live most of the time in the shed at ambient temperature (sometimes changing their place to other locations in the large barn housing the shed ).

Stephan

[DaveL59]

10 minutes ago, randomic said:

The whole glass being a very slow flowing liquid thing is a myth. You don't have to worry about your lenses.

https://www.cmog.org/article/does-glass-flow

yeah I know, was kinda tongue in cheek comment from me there 🙂 Not a bad fishing trip tho, 2 bites 😄 

[Telescope40]

1 hour ago, DaveL59 said:

well glass is considered to be a fluid, so I guess over a long enough period of time it could if left undisturbed eventually flow such that the lens changes shape. That'd apply whichever orientation you store it in but in our lifetimes and our grandchildren's even it'd not be noticeable. Grease in the focuser on the other hand might flow if temperatures get high enough but other than that I'd expect they'd be just fine.

 

14 minutes ago, randomic said:

The whole glass being a very slow flowing liquid thing is a myth. You don't have to worry about your lenses.

https://www.cmog.org/article/does-glass-flow

Thanks for the replies. Puts my mind to rest. FT and Moonlite Focusers are fitted so happy grease, should not be an issue. 
Thread hijack is over.  John 👍👍

[AstroRookie]

After I've seen this youtube post Cuiv, the lazy geek , I've decided to put my setup outside under a car cover. I did not go for the telegizmo Cuiv (by the way where is he, haven't seen any thing from him for 2 weeks now?) mentions in his post, as this would have cost me at least twice as much. Mount, telescope, guider scope, usb hub,raspberry pi+external ssd and cables all have been out under that car cover for more then two weeks with heavy wind and rain, and when I tried it out in between rain showers last Saturday every thing was dry and it all worked. As for collimation, I only had to adjust the primary a little bit. On previous occasions where I moved every thing out and back inside, I had to collimate the secondary as well. If interested I can post some pictures but don't expect any thing fancy, it's rather primitive, but after all, what would you expect from

AstroRookie

[RobertI]

I managed to secure a large roller fronted book case when my employer closed an office - it’s in the garage and is perfect for storing various bits of astro equipment including my C8, RC6, Tal100RS and 100ED-R. 
 

The poor old 150PL is not so cosseted, sitting on a shelf wrapped in plastic bins liners!

 

My Zenithstar 66 sits on a bookcase in the lounge so I can admire it. 🙂

[AlexK]

19 hours ago, RobertI said:

The poor old 150PL is not so cosseted, sitting on a shelf wrapped in plastic bins liners!

Careful with those chemicals on the shelves nearby. Certain vapors or spills might damage optics. Even plastics might emit enough to affect some coatings in a long run.

[Marvin Jenkins]

I don’t have a problem storing all the fracs and dobs, FLO store them for me as I have not bought them yet.

M

[RobertI]

19 minutes ago, AlexK said:

Careful with those chemicals on the shelves nearby. Certain vapors or spills might damage optics. Even plastics might emit enough to affect some coatings in a long run.

Ha, I was wondering if someone would comment on that! 😁 It’s a fair point and thanks for your concern. I was actually considering one of those nice padded bags for storing it somewhere - only thing is the bag would almost cost as much as I paid for the scope! 

[Guest]

I just keep mine in the spare room. 

[AlexK]

51 minutes ago, RobertI said:

Ha, I was wondering if someone would comment on that! 😁 It’s a fair point and thanks for your concern. I was actually considering one of those nice padded bags for storing it somewhere - only thing is the bag would almost cost as much as I paid for the scope! 

These padded bags are actually for safe transporting. They are an overkill for the storage. Just make sure the chemicals are safe for coatings, avoid spills/leaking of those you not sure about, ventilate the space periodically, and surely give all your scopes a periodic "walk" to fresh air!

[RobertI]

22 minutes ago, AlexK said:

These padded bags are actually for safe transporting.

I need something for transporting it too, so seems to solve both problems. 

Edited November 3, 2020 by RobertI

[Swoop1]

My scopes, eyepiece case, cameras and other optics/ gizmos live in a cupboard in the spare room (the spare room being the advantage of a sprog fledging and fleeing the nest).

The AZ4 and HEQ5 Pro live in the brick built shed.

[L8-Nite]

On ‎02‎/‎11‎/‎2020 at 20:19, randomic said:

On topic: Nice try, telescope thief!

But seriously I have displaced a wardrobe of my fiancée's clothes and it is now my astro gear cupboard.

Not worried about thieves, unless they can carry a half of ton. 

[Kon]

On 02/11/2020 at 22:47, RobertI said:

I managed to secure a large roller fronted book case when my employer closed an office - it’s in the garage and is perfect for storing various bits of astro equipment including my C8, RC6, Tal100RS and 100ED-R.

Don’t you worry about humidity in the garage during the colder months? I like the idea of garage storage.

[RobertI]

1 hour ago, Kon said:

Don’t you worry about humidity in the garage during the colder months? I like the idea of garage storage.

I didn't worry about it until you mentioned it! Interesting question though - my C8 has been stored in various brick built garages for the last 20 odd years and it's fine, so my experience has been good. I don't know what kind of conditions would create humidity in a garage?