HELP! Dirty Mirrors!

[Astrosurf]

OMG what do I do about this? My mirrors are so dirty. There's SGL this weekend and I can't use the scope like this.

What did I do to get them like this?

How do I clean them?

Alexxx

EDIT: I think my secondary is OK, it's just the reflection from my primary, silly me. But still awful!

[Rob Severn]

Recently helped a freind clean a mirror which had amongst other things tree sap on it and found this method to work very well.

Thanks Astro Baby.

Cleaning the Telescope Mirrors

[JamesF]

Is some of that just dew? If you took the photos just after you'd been outside with it then I'd leave it to dry out and see how it looks then.

Either way, I'm not sure your views will be affected too badly, and it might be more sensible to go to SGL7 and clean the mirrors when you come back rather than cleaning them now and having to rush to put the scope back together and get it properly set up before SGL7.

The favoured way to clean the mirror is, I believe, to remove it and wash it just with your fingers in a bowl of warm soapy water, then rinse it with clean water (distilled for preference) and prop it up somewhere it can't fall over to allow it to dry. There's a video on youtube that covers it somewhere. If you search the forums for mirror cleaning you might well find a link to it.

James

[Astrosurf]

Many thanks James. The pics were taken this morning so the dew has dried from last night. There's a thread on here that talks about the best way to bring a scope and EPs into a warm house. Some say leave the caps off to dry and some say put caps on. I normally leave the kit to dry with the caps off, but didn't last night. It was all rather wet.

What would you suggest?

[benjii]

Did you bring it inside with the caps off then put them on?

[Astrosurf]

I brought it in with the cover on this time.

I normally leave it off for the mirror to dry. I should leave the scope on its side as I have forgotten to put the cap back on! But it's in the conservatory which is not very dusty. It might have picked up dirt from those few times I left the cap off and then the dew made it all yucky (my technical term!)

[JamesF]

There's a thread elsewhere on the forums showing the state of the mirror at Kielder observatory. I suggest you have a look at that before you panic too much

James

[hobbesy]

There was this on YouTube that I watched the other day. (Not sure why, my newt is spotless as I only really use the 'frac!)

[Astrosurf]

There's a thread elsewhere on the forums showing the state of the mirror at Kielder observatory. I suggest you have a look at that before you panic too much

James

Found it. Thanks James. I'll stop worrying then!

[lukebl]

You think that's dirty? You should see mine. I've seen Steve's video about cleaning the mirror, but I haven't had the nerve to clean it myself. As people are always saying, the mirror has to be pretty bad before it significantly affects the performance.

[Astrosurf]

Thanks hobbsey, thanks all!