Oh no!

[Vic&Al]

Hi people,

we have just bought our first scope its a Newtonian reflector, after about a week of clouds tonight it finally cleared up:) so set up just after dark and a little while later oh no! moisture on everything!!! primary mirror totally dulled out finder scope soaking in fact the whole scope looks like its had a bath, what can we do??

Please help this is not the best of starts

[pvaz]

You can buy or make a dew shield out of card board (will eventually need replacement).

Even with a bit of dew in the primary you can still observe. If you use high magnification you may notice it but for low mag a little dew isn't much of a problem.

[dweller25]

No harm done - let it dry out slowly.

It's unusual to get dew on the primary though - unless you mean the secondary which is usually what happens. As pvaz says a dew shield will help.

[Thomas]

The first rule of drying telescopes is not to do it manually. Instead, use a hairdrier to blow dry the mirrors, eyepieces, finder and also the electric controls should you have any. If you do not have power available then a battery operated fan is the second best. Use the hairdrier or fan frequently to prevent the dew forming. Hope this is helpful to you.

[Vic&Al]

Thanks

Hair-dryer on the job!

Yes the primary is misted up too! in fact the whole scope is covered in condensate (the car is coverd too). It has gone really cold over the past few hours though guess I just took it out at the wrong time. Never mind will dry it out and go again looks like a nice night for it!

Thanks again