Promising start turns pear-shaped quickly

[Jack123456]

Hi Everybody,

I woke up early this morning and couldn't get back to sleep, so i looked out of the window to see the stars shining brightly!

I went outside and setup my 3" scope while the kettle boiled.

After being out for about 10 min, i thought i'd have a quick peek at Saturn. Beautiful as usual, although not the best i've seen it, but i put it down to it being quite close to the horizon.

Had a look around... WOW!!!!! The milky way!!!

I had never seen it before, and being only 3 miles south of Norwich, i thought this must be a good sign of a good session ahead.

Found 3 new Messier objects M10 M12 and M56, however M56 was really difficult to see, and the more i tried to look at it (with averted) the dimmer it became.

I thought something must be wrong, so i quickly found M13, and it was difficult to make out.

I inspected my gear, only to find all my EPs had misted up.

Decided to just sit out and learn some constelations, but after about 10 min, the cloud started rolling in and it was difficult to see anything except the brightest stars.

Now i am inside with a cup of coffee, wondering why my EPs misted up:icon_scratch:

Can anyone explain what causes that?

Thanks for reading

Jack

[yeti monster]

Perhaps you breathed on theEP?? It is very easy to do. Did you try another EP?

[Jack123456]

I might have breathed on it, but the one i hadn't used was just as bad

[Demonperformer]

This is probably a really silly suggestion, but how was your *steaming* coffee cup positioned in relation to your eyepiece box?

[yeti monster]

Could just be that the dew point suddenly changed with the incoming cloud front, not much you can do about them...

[Jack123456]

Nice thought, but my coffee stayed inside.

the only thing i can think it might be is the fact that when i went out it was freezing, and the air was warming up quicker than the EPs were.

[yeti monster]

Warm glass will steam up instantly when taken out into the cold air, if you'd already got some observing done before things went misty, I'd say it was changing conditions.

[Jack123456]

Thanks.

I'm still happy that i saw the milky way though, especially being so close to the city!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Thanks.

I'm still happy that i saw the milky way though, especially being so close to the city!

Not just the milky way, three new Messiers in the bag. Not bad for a quick session.

[Nexus 6]

Hi Jack, yes the Milky Way is a superb sight, so glad I can see it here at home on many nights through out the year when conditions allow, my best observation of it was when on holiday in the middle of Bodmin Moor, almost no light pollution made for some astounding sky's;)

thing is I was not interested in astronomy then but once pointed out to me I was still amazed at the amount of stars in the sky and the Milky Way itself was .....unforgettable

glad you have now seen it

[Andrew*]

Warm glass will steam up instantly when taken out into the cold air, if you'd already got some observing done before things went misty, I'd say it was changing conditions.

It's the other way round! Think about it! Dew heaters work by keeping the glass warmer than the dew point. Glasses steam up when coming inside from the cold.

As soon as theeyepiece glass cools to near ambient, it can easily mist up from air warmed by your eye. That's probably what happened. Try to keep the eyepieces warm or at least covered. Or check this solution: http://stargazerslounge.com/equipment-discussion/137773-bulb-blower-misted-up-eyepieces-happy-observer.html

Andrew

[brantuk]

I keep my ep's outside next to the scope in a case which stays closed for the ones I'm not currently using. When I take one out it goes straight in my pocket until needed. This usually works fine and I've never had a misting problem for ep's.

If I'm using one for any length of time in dewey conditions I pop a dew strap round it and plug in to the controller. Just a couple of ideas for you

[Jack123456]

Thank you all for all the advice.

I hope i can avoid it in future.

And yes, another 3 messier obbjects. Only 88 to go!!!!!