Telescope Reviews: Extreme cold weather question

· Get a Cloudy Nights T-Shirt

· Submit a Review / Article

Click here if you are having trouble logging into the forums

Privacy Policy | Please read our Terms of Service | Signup and Troubleshooting FAQ | Problems? PM a Red or a Green Gu… uh, User

You are not logged in. [Login]

Entrance · Main Index · Search · New user · Who's Online
FAQ · Calendar

General Astronomy >> General Observing and Astronomy

Pages: 1 | 2 | (show all)

Gil V
member

Reged: 09/09/12

Extreme cold weather question
#5596507 - 12/30/12 04:34 PM

Will be looking at Jupiter tonight. Temps 15 F with 15 mph winds.
Scope is already outside freezing.
Do you keep eyepieces inside (warm) or outside (freezing) before going out?

Post Extras:

star drop
Snowed In

Reged: 02/02/08

Loc: Snow Plop, WNY

Re: Extreme cold weather question new

[Re: Gil V]
#5596520 - 12/30/12 04:39 PM

Warm.

Post Extras:

FirstSight
Postmaster

Reged: 12/26/05

Loc: Raleigh, NC

Re: Extreme cold weather question new

[Re: star drop]
#5596627 - 12/30/12 05:41 PM

Quote:

Warm.

...because otherwise if your EPs start out at frigid ambient temperature, the warm moisture radiating off your eyeball and face will quickly fog up the eyelens directly on-axis.

Post Extras:

mich_al
Pooh-Bah

Reged: 05/10/09

Loc: Rural central lower Michigan ...

Re: Extreme cold weather question new

[Re: FirstSight]
#5596648 - 12/30/12 06:02 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Warm.

...because otherwise if your EPs start out at frigid ambient temperature, the warm moisture radiating off your eyeball and face will quickly fog up the eyelens directly on-axis.

Post Extras:

Gil V
member

Reged: 09/09/12

Re: Extreme cold weather question new

[Re: star drop]
#5596667 - 12/30/12 06:15 PM

Seeing poor. Jupiter was a mess. Too cold!!

Edited by tecmage (12/31/12 10:32 PM)

Post Extras:

Achernar
Postmaster

Reged: 02/25/06

Loc: Mobile, Alabama, USA

Re: Extreme cold weather question new

[Re: Gil V]
#5597782 - 12/31/12 11:32 AM

I put them in my coat pockets, put heat packs in the case, and use a heater on the eyepiece plugged into my Dewbuster. It is a must here because eyepieces fog up here easily due to the extreme humidity that prevails here on the Gulf Coast. I wrap the heater around the barrel of the eyepiece and secure it with a strip of Velcro. It works very well. Another tactic that always helps is keeping my eyepiece case shut unless I am swapping eyepieces, that keeps them from dewing up and so does a heat pack place inside it.

Taras

Post Extras:

csrlice12
Postmaster

Reged: 05/22/12

Loc: Denver, CO

Re: Extreme cold weather question new

[Re: Achernar]
#5599755 - 01/01/13 02:44 PM

I'd be more worried about ME being cold then the eyepieces. But like Achernar, I just keep the eyepieces in the closed case or at least in the bolt case. Having spent a year at the North Pole, I have a great respect for the cold.

Post Extras:

Seldom
sage

Reged: 08/05/12

Loc: Southwest Utah--Elev. 5700 ft.

Re: Extreme cold weather question new

[Re: csrlice12]
#5599773 - 01/01/13 02:56 PM

Gil V, I doubt that you'd have any frost build up in a 15 MPH wind.

It was -2F last night (no wind) and I didn't have any problems with EP frost, but I don't know what the Dew Point was. Kept the EP's in a camera bag with a couple "Little Hotties" hand warmers.

Post Extras:

NeilMac
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 09/25/10

Loc: MedHat, AB, Canada

Re: Extreme cold weather question new

[Re: Seldom]
#5599831 - 01/01/13 03:30 PM

I just keep them in my pocket.

Post Extras:

dennyhenke
super member

Reged: 09/07/12

Loc: Fredericktown, MO

Re: Extreme cold weather question new

[Re: NeilMac]
#5600538 - 01/01/13 11:29 PM

I use an $11 heating pad in my EP case, works great!

Post Extras:

mountain monk
Pooh-Bah

Reged: 11/06/09

Loc: Grand Teton National Park

Re: Extreme cold weather question new

[Re: dennyhenke]
#5601028 - 01/02/13 10:58 AM

Easy, cheap, solution: put one of those pink hot water bottles in your lens case.

Dark skies.

Jack

Post Extras:

csa/montana
Den Mama

Reged: 05/14/05

Loc: montana

Re: Extreme cold weather question new

[Re: csrlice12]
#5601037 - 01/02/13 11:02 AM

Quote:

I'd be more worried about ME being cold then the eyepieces.

+1

I also just keep my eyepieces in my closed case, while observing. I've not had a problem so far.

Post Extras:

izar187
Pooh-Bah

Reged: 09/02/06

Loc: 43N

Re: Extreme cold weather question new

[Re: NeilMac]
#5601263 - 01/02/13 01:29 PM

Pockets for me too.
This will de-fog and defrost them as well.

Post Extras:

Tony Flanders
Postmaster

Reged: 05/18/06

Loc: Cambridge, MA, USA

Re: Extreme cold weather question new

[Re: Gil V]
#5601314 - 01/02/13 02:06 PM

Boy, it would never occur to me to describe 15F as "extreme cold."

As others have said, it's pretty important to keep the eyepieces warm -- at least if your face puts out as much moisture as mine does. Pockets work fine for me, though I occasionally lose a minute or two warming up an eyepiece that I hadn't expected to use.

No doubt electric heaters work beautifully, but I don't like to be dependent on a high-power electric supply. And chemical handwarmers get expensive if you use them every night. A hot water bottle would be OK at first, but doesn't stay hot terribly long when it's cold out.

As for the seeing, it's sometimes fine on cold nights -- you never can tell. You do need to allow more cooldown time than during the summer, obviously.

Post Extras:

kenrenard
scholastic sledgehammer

Reged: 12/13/12

Loc: Dunmore, PA

Re: Extreme cold weather question new

[Re: Tony Flanders]
#5601341 - 01/02/13 02:24 PM

Maybe I have been lucky. I keep my scope and eyepieces in my garage. observed for about an hour with no issues. It wasn't terribly cold maybe 20F. I never warmed my eyepieces. No my question is should I start to?

Post Extras:

csrlice12
Postmaster

Reged: 05/22/12

Loc: Denver, CO

Re: Extreme cold weather question new

[Re: kenrenard]
#5601352 - 01/02/13 02:28 PM

You can heat up ES eyepieces while boiling eggs.......

Post Extras:

Mike E.
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 01/26/10

Loc: Moonstone Observatory

Re: Extreme cold weather question new

[Re: mountain monk]
#5601390 - 01/02/13 02:53 PM

Quote:

Easy, cheap, solution: put one of those pink hot water bottles in your lens case.

Dark skies.

Jack

I've used hot water bottles for years as backpacking canteens, serving a duel purpous. Theres nothing quite as nice as slipping into a warm sleeping bag on a cold trail.
Walmart has hot water bottles at the Pharmacy, they were $4.oo last time I looked.
Over here in the UK there are small, kid sized hot water bottles, they only hold about a cup and a half of hot water; might be a good size for warming a case, anyway, another good idea for a HWB.

Post Extras:

Tony Flanders
Postmaster

Reged: 05/18/06

Loc: Cambridge, MA, USA

Re: Extreme cold weather question new

[Re: kenrenard]
#5601522 - 01/02/13 04:20 PM

Quote:

Maybe I have been lucky. I keep my scope and eyepieces in my garage. observed for about an hour with no issues. It wasn't terribly cold maybe 20F. I never warmed my eyepieces. No my question is should I start to?

Here's my advice:

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

- Tony

Post Extras:

Starman81
Pooh-Bah

Reged: 03/06/08

Loc: Metro Detroit, MI, USA

Re: Extreme cold weather question new

[Re: Tony Flanders]
#5601650 - 01/02/13 05:46 PM

I observed last night in partly cloudy skies in 13*F temperatures--a new record for me, though it was a short 30-40 minute session before I got totally clouded over. I consider that quite cold! But no wind, that made it bearable. I keep my EPs in the case until it is time to use them.

Post Extras:

kenrenard
scholastic sledgehammer

Reged: 12/13/12

Loc: Dunmore, PA

Re: Extreme cold weather question new

[Re: Tony Flanders]
#5601715 - 01/02/13 06:32 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Maybe I have been lucky. I keep my scope and eyepieces in my garage. observed for about an hour with no issues. It wasn't terribly cold maybe 20F. I never warmed my eyepieces. No my question is should I start to?

Here's my advice:

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

- Tony

Point well taken. I will keep things as they are. Thanks Tony!!

Post Extras:

Pages: 1 | 2 | (show all)

Extra information

3 registered and 1 anonymous users are browsing this forum.

Moderator: cildarith, droid, tecmage

Print Thread

Forum Permissions
      You cannot start new topics
      You cannot reply to topics
      HTML is disabled
      UBBCode is enabled

Thread views: 1695

Jump to

CN Forums

Home

Cloudy Nights LLC
Cloudy Nights Sponsor: Astronomics