How cold is to cold?

[cjewell.rvt]

I can't find any hard information but how cold is to cold to take the telescope out?  Christmas eve was a beautiful night but the temperature here were 1 degree with a light breeze.  I know the lower the temp the thicker the greases will be internally but will temps affect the optics?

Thanks,
Chad Jewell
Hermon, ME

[drclay]

Cold air = best transparency and clarity.
Your optics can take it if you can.  The motors and gears may run a bit slower than normal, but this is fine.  Also some strain may be heard, but this is not hurting anything....it is the lowering of the voltage to the motors because of the cold.

Keep any keypad warm inside your coat or pocket and make sure the frost does not form, but for the most part, if YOU can take it, so can the telescope.

Never try to run the scope on internal batteries during cold weather and make sure that your power source is reliable and regulated even down to such cold temps.

Dr. Clay

[lindendave]

That was pretty much what I was going to say 

Before I moved to southern Illinois I lived in Michigan and had my scope outside in an unheated building all through the winter. I noticed some of the symptoms Doc mentioned and I remember getting a little worried also so I asked just about what you have......it's always a good thing to ask questions! Even now my scope sits permanently polar mounted in an unheated room and after almost a decade it is still working great in spite of the cold. One thing I did do was to lower the Max Slew speed, but that was for other reasons as well. After almost a decade my scope is still performing just as well as the day I received it.

[cjewell.rvt]

Thanks all.  I forgot that I had posted this question as since then I have only had one evening that there haven't been any clouds that killed everything.  Of course tonight was nice at -0.8 degrees the Patriots game won out.  To cold out for me isn't a problem as Duluth Fleece lined Firehose pants and LL Bean parka keeps me toasty.  What about the cold on the plastics?  I am far from rough with my scope but bringing it in will any shock from a cold night out to a 70 degree house cause a break?

Thanks again,
Chad

[drclay]

Hi Chad....the best thing to do when it is that cold is to leave the scope out on a porch or garage covered by a sheet until the temps get up a bit higher.  The worse thing that happens when bringing into a warm building is that immediately condensation forms all over the surfaces, including the glass.

Leave the scope out and wait until the sun has warmed things a bit.

Brrrr.....0.8 degrees.  Add a little wind to the mix and I remember why I live south of 35 degrees latitude.