Smudge on primary mirror. Should I remove and clean?

[ubertank]

I had a peek down my scope yesterday and could see one or two smudges on the primary mirror. They appeared about 1cm squared.

I planned to have a go at collimating tonight but to be honest amd very nervous about any aspect of mucking about with the scope. Is the removal of the primary and cleaning it an easy task or should I stay away from it for now? Are little marks like this likely to effect image much anyway?

[John]

The marks really won't affect the views at all. Until it gets really dirty I'd leave the mirror untouched. The scope looks like a 6" F/8 dobsonian - collimation is really not a big issue at all with that focal ratio. I'd not adjust the collimation unless you know it's off (ie: you have star tested and the out of focus "star donuts" don't have the black shadow of the secondary in their centre).

It's easy to get a bit paranoid about optics but 6" F/8 newtonians are pretty robust.

[ubertank]

It's an eight inch that one. Im just fat :-)

[John]

It's an eight inch that one. Im just fat :-)

I'm a big lad too

The 8" F/6's are pretty easy to collimate as well - I had some great views through the one I used to have.

[Ibbo!]

leve the marks you will not notice them

[8kids]

I'd leave it for now, if you haven't already you may want to flock the tube in the future you can do it then if you want to.