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Re: Cold Weather

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Posted by Tom on March 24, 1999 10:48:34 UTC

Lorne:

I know this is a late reply but...

You'll know if your main lens (I'm assuming you have a refractor with the lens in the front of the tube) is fogging or frosting up by shining a flashlight on the main lens - You can see the dew or frost. If this is the case, try this trick: Using stiff cardboard (like posterboard) make an extention to the "dewcap" - the extended shield around the lens. Make this extra long shield about twice as long as the factory one, and secure with a rubber band. See if this helps.

If it is your eyepieces fogging - as I suspect - here's trick #2: Keep your eyepieces warm by keeping them in your pocket (wrapped in plastic bags to keep lint free) Put only one eyepiece in each pocket so they don't bang together. When the eyepice is getting cold again put it back in your pocket for a few minutes to "defrost"

For the small eyepieces that came with your scope, try using plastic 35mm film film containers to keep them in (instead of plastic bags)

FYI - In very cold weather, just the humidity from your eyeball can fog over an eyepiece, and freeze on its lens!

Enjoy the new scope! There's ZILLIONS of things to look at if you are patient enough.

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