Hello Friend,

    Well, I've heard from more than a few people around Canada about just how cold it gets, wind chill and all.

One question asked by Dennis Carnochan,  who lives in Northern Alberta, and Kathleen Houston, from Saskatchewan was how does one protect theirtelescope when it's being used in cold weather extremes?

    Where I live, on Manitoulin Island, we can get wind chills down to -30 to -39 on some nights, and on those
nights, I rarely observe.

However, when it "warms up" to -10 to -15, then I will go out.

    And here is some of the gear I use to protect one of my "grab and go" telescopes, the Celestron Nexstar 8SE
which is a computerized Schmidt Cassegrain:

1) Dew heating System and Dewshield:  To protect the Corrector plate from dewing up, and killing my observing
    session.

2)Dew heaters for both my Telrad finderscope and eyepieces.

3)dew heater for my Celestron hand controller. (Don't use this one all the time, unless it's below -15)

All of these run off a 12 volt Celestron Powertank 17amp powersupply, which I also use to operate the telescope itself.
Generally, my observing sessions won't run longer than a couple of hours in the Winter, and that's more than enough juice
to power the whole kit and kaboodle.

    We carry all of these dew prevention items in stock, and if you need any assistance or specifics for your make or
model of telescope, then give us a call at 1 800 580 7160 or local 416 783 4140, or drop us an email at info@khanscope.com

Also, I keep my telescope in a cold area, so it acclimatizes more rapidly when I take it outside.

   In other words, it's ready to use right away, no waiting for cool down.  Plus, I power the drive system up immediately,
when I take it outside.

    Now, if you live in an area which has extremely cold weather, then your best bet is to buy or build a portable observatory
to protect you and your gear from the wind.

Clear Skies,

Ray "don't dew me" Khan

PS Darn tarnation: That Groundhog, Wiarton Willie, has indeed predicted 6 more weeks of Winter.   Anyone got a good recipe for Groundhog stew?