UHT coatings

[solo]

Judging by the gunge and fly poo etc on my mirror it looks like I'm going to have to consider having my coatings renewed pretty soon. I'll probably have a bash at cleaning them myself first, but if this doesn't do the trick I'll have no choice. I read somewhere ( Astronomy Now Mag I think ) that uht coatings give the equivelent of a 26% boost in light gathering performance over normal coatings, meaning that my 8" mirror will have the light gathering power of a 9" mirror ( normal coating ).Can anyone out there verify this claim ? I would appreciate the benefit of anyones experience in this matter.

Cheers. John.

[FLO]

A 26% increase in brightness seems a bit .... ambituous.

Who is making the claim?

[GazOC]

Meade.

[GazOC]

It does help resale value on a scope though.....

[solo]

I think it was Orion Optics.

John.

[GazOC]

The Hilux?

[solo]

Yup. You got it.

[canuck]

I think Meade claim "up to" 15%with UHTC 8)

[barkis]

It's all Humbug, I will take the larger mirror every time and be satisfied with 1 coat of aluminium, no silicon overcoat. Once it has oxidised it it hard enough. Clean it only when absolutely necessary. A dirty mirror will always work better than a badly cleaned one. One golden rule about touching the surface with anything. " DON'T.

Ron.