Dew in a hot environment

[Debostar]

Dear Friends I read about dew and letting the scope cool down for a while before using etc....Well here up to now, the temperature outside and inside the room is almost the same, but now I have started using the air conditioner and the room temperature is colder than outside. Would that mean that my scope would develop dew when outside?? How would the outside warming affect it??

[Peter Drew]

Hello Debostar.

It would appear that you have the opposite problem to that which we have in the UK!. In any event, it is important for the telescope to reach thermal equilibrium with the outside air, you will have to wait for your optics to warm up. As to dewing, this will depend on the dryness of the air and the initial temperature difference.