Hidden beneath the silver is an eq-6
with two scopes on it.
I originally bought this scope cover
when i was hauling a 10” newtionian on a 1970's star-liner
mount down the stairs from my room and out into my back yard each
night when i came home for the weekends. Oddly enough, hauling
hundreds of pounds of oddly shaped telescope parts up and down two
flights of stairs 2-3 times each week makes you look for other
solutions. One solution i cam up with was to build an observatory.
My first idea was shot down pretty quickly, but my second idea was to
simply buy a telescope cover! That idea worked out.
The telescope cover is essentially a
telescope shaped tarp with a drawstring on the bottom. How it
differes from a normal tarp, is that it also has a reflective coating
on the outside. There may be more suble enginerring marvels at work
here, but all i needed to see was the results. For a few days at a
time i could now leave my telescope set up outside and not need to
bring it in everynight. The material itself is waterproof and the
reflective coating keeps the inside cool under the beating sun. I
even left it out in a down poor just to see if it could handle it. I
ran out in the middle of the storm and the inside was completely dry.
I've checked in the middle of the night as well, and the inside is
cozy and free of dew.
For $64 and free shipping i got
something that would act as a temporary observatory and cost a good
deal less. I bought one larger than i needed, which i would
recommend to you as well, so that it would fit all sorts of
telescopes. After i moved on from the 10” newt on the 30 year
old mount the same scope cover protected a fork mounted Super C8, a
GEM mounted C8 in tandem with a 4” mak, and 8” LXD-55 and
my 10” dob.
If you have a need, Telegizmos also has
a 365 Telescope cover that is built more ruggedly and intended for
continuous use instead of just a few days at a time. If i could do
it again i would spend the extra dough and get the 365 cover, becuse
the standard one does feel a little flimsly. Even though nothing so
far has gone wrong, i worry about the day i rip it on the slightly
sharp exposed edge of my side-by-side saddle. However, at the same
time i wouldn't leave my scope out continuously with the 365 cover.
I can be reasonably sure that the cover will not protect your scope
from sticks and flying debris.
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