Care of Telescope after use

[Rosie2]

Can anyone tell me when I bring my scope in after use is it advisable to leave the dust cap off to let it dry out? I dry the outside of the tube.What is the removable small cap for ? I always keep this in place.Thank you.

[Doc]

What scope do you have? And what small removable cap?

I always leave my mirror cover off and eyepiece end caps off until the next morning so they self dry overnight.

[barkis]

Leave the cover off whilst in the house, at least until any condensation has disappeared from your scope mirror. I take it you have a reflector?.

The small cap in the main cover, is usually used when solar observing, but I stress very strongly that it has to be covered by a recommended solar filter. That small aperture lets enough light through. If you do not intend solar viewing, then it can be left in place permanently. If you do intend to look at the sun, YOU WOULD BE BETTER PURCHASING A FULL APERTURE SOLAR FILTER FOR YOUR PARTICULAR TELESCOPE. Remember to cover the lens of your finder scope if you do observe the sun at any time. Someone curious may attempt to look through the finder whilst your attention is elsewhere. Better still turn the finder away from it's proper alignment to be safe.

Ron.

[Rosie2]

Thanks Mike I have a Skywatcher Skyliner 200p The dust cap mask has 2 caps one you can remove the other is fixed.

[Rosie2]

Thanks Barkis I dont think I will ever try solar observation pictures are enough.

[crepitis]

Thanks Mike I have a Skywatcher Skyliner 200p The dust cap mask has 2 caps one you can remove the other is fixed.

The "fixed" one is for putting the removable one on so that you dont lose it when you remove it .

[The Warthog]

The removable small cap in the lens cap constitutes an aperture mask for viewing the Moon and other bright objects such as Jupiter, and occasionally Saturn. It dims the brightness considerably, and makes focusing a little easier.

Some people who don't want to pay for a full size solar filter also stick a piece of solar filter material behind the small hole, and use it as a solar filter as well. I'm one of these people.

And, as crepitis said, you put the cap from the small hole on the other raised circle so you don't lose it.

[Rosie2]

Thanks so much guys I thought , another silly question from Rosie !but you clarified my pondering.

[The Warthog]

Not a silly question at all! We've had users who took only the small cap off, and observed for quite a while through the small hole. I've also met people who didn't take the objective cover off at all, put an eyepiece in their Newt, pointed the back of the scope skyward and wondered why they couldn't see owt. This is not an exaggeration!

[Doc]

I've also met people who didn't take the objective cover off at all, put an eyepiece in their Newt, pointed the back of the scope skyward and wondered why they couldn't see owt. This is not an exaggeration!

This made me chuckle as I know someone who done this.