Dewy summer Trunk-cated imaging session- my first SHO image!

[pipnina]

I got my scope set up last night and, while waiting for it to get a little darker before switching to my main target for the night, decided to try out a single-frame of S H and O on the elephant's trunk- just to have a hubble pallet image under my belt as the last 3 nights have had their own issues which again perpetuated into last night.

This represents only 10 minutes per colour, single images.

I'm quite pleased with the result, despite the very low SNR. I even made an alternate version where I swapped S and H around to make a HSO version, which came out purple.

 

As for the issue... I noticed my images getting darker and darker through the night, for the last 3 sessions. Tonight I went out to have a closer look inside the tube to find that the secondary AND primary mirror were both totally frosted-over. It was surprising I could get ANY image from it given how bad it was. The outside of the telescope was practically dripping, and I was surprised my laptop still worked, it was absolutely soaked!

I definitely need to find a solution to this dewing issue if I want to continue imaging in summer. Does the fan at the back of the scope (my TS Photon) prevent dew or is it just for getting the scope down to outdoor temps faster? I have seen some secondary-mirror straps which I could get from FLO but don't know what would be most appropriate for the primary mirror.