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Guy at a star party showed me how to fix my blurry photos with just a towel
Last summer I was out at a dark sky site near Flagstaff and kept getting these soft images with my telescope setup. This older gentleman walks over and watches me struggle for 20 minutes. He says, "You're fighting air currents from the ground, not the scope." Then he takes a bath towel and drapes it over the tripod legs and the base of the mount to block heat radiating off the pavement. I laughed but tried it - my next 3 shots were noticeably sharper. He explained that even a 5 degree temp difference between the ground and the air creates ripples in your field of view. Has anyone else tried blocking ground heat with something simple like that?
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shane7513d ago
The "fighting air currents from the ground" part is real. I had the same issue at a local park and just threw a dark tarp over the concrete under my tripod. Big difference. It's basically the same trick people use when they put a towel over a hot car seat but for astro. You don't need some fancy dew shield or ground heater for this. A simple towel or blanket can break up that thermal boundary layer right below your scope.
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tyler_burns663d ago
A dark tarp is a good call, did you have any issues with dew forming on the tarp itself? I'm wondering if the fabric getting damp and cold could radiate that moisture back up toward the optics, or if the towel trick works better in dryer climates like Arizona. Also, how far off the ground did you drape it, or did you just lay it flat under the tripod feet?
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