I have a dew heater for my 12" LX200
http://www.seds.org/billa/dp/dewpower.html
that I've been using successfully for some time. Last night I
happened to notice, though, that with it on I can easily detect some
disturbances in a grossly out of focus image of a bright object
(Mars, in this case). With the heater on I saw lots of ripples and
waves that I usually associate with bad seeing. But the seeing was
pretty good for me last night and there was no dew. When I turned
the heater off, the ripples and waves disappeared. I saw no effects
either way in the IN FOCUS images, though. So I'm wondering if this
is worth worrying about. My usual practice of late has been to use
the dew heater all the time. But if it is affecting my images maybe
I should try to use it only when necessary (not an easy thing to
determine, though).

Bill Arnett
http://www.seds.org/billa/
"I know that I am mortal and the creature of a day; but when I search
out the massed wheeling circles of the stars, my feet no longer touch
the earth, but, side by side with Zeus himself, I take my fill of
ambrosia, the food of the gods." -- Claudius Ptolemaeus (Ptolemy)

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