Altair Secondary Mirror Heater for 8-10" Ritchey-Chrtien telescopes

Altair DEWH-GSO Heater for secondary mirrors of Ritchey-Chretien telescopes:

The problem: ... Due to heat emission into the sky, the back of a secondary mirror can become colder during the night, and so the used surface, resulting in the formation of dew.

A heater can prevent from this problem, but the screws and bolts for adjustment don´t allow the use of a heating matte.

The solution: ... The split secondary mirror heater solves this problem, as the flexible material is split and can easily placed around the obstacles. Glueing is done with silicone, glue or double-sided adhesive tape (all user provided).

Mounting:

A flexible, split ring design makes the heater very easy to install. It fits onto the back of the secondary mirror housing and is held in place by a thin layer of silicone glue or any glue which resists moisture reasonably well (user provided). The heater is thermally insulated with 1/8" (3 mm) thick neoprene sponge foam on the rear of the flexible heater element. This will help the heater to direct the heat into the secondary mirror housing to gently warm the optics, and aid in preventing heat loss into the atmosphere.

Wiring: The wires can be taped onto an arm of the spider, so they hardly influence the image.