[thebakeshow]

Question to those astrophotographers out there. I notice the cooler has a fan on it, is the fan vibration damped somehow?

I shoot a lot of long distance photos (300mm F/2.8 and 600mm F/4 are my main lenses). Any vibration is greatly amplified when I shoot, and this is a much longer range than that.

[aortega]

Good question. I have a peltier cooled ccd (atik 460) and the fan stays on during the entire exposure, but it doesn't affect the final picture at all, touching the camera I can't feel any vibration, but can hear the fan. Quality is much better than in my fanless Canon 400D.

[madaxe_again]

Most Pelletier chilled assemblies use magnetic bearings for fans, so very low shake. I use an Orion star shoot G3 (can't really recommend it), but vibration from quarrying 20 miles away is more of a problem than the fan.

Oh, and that's on 2032mm f/10.

[cperciva]

I notice the cooler has a fan on it, is the fan vibration damped somehow?

I'd assume that the fan is simply turned off for the duration of a photo (plus the time it takes for vibrations to decay). The sensor won't heat up instantaneously.