what the hell is this on my mirror??

[Daniel-K]

i have just brought my 8inch quattro in to do some collimation and found the mirror looking like this, i have had to shine a tourch on it so the camera can pick it up , i know what you say it looks worse with a torch shinning on it but in this case it doesnt, it acttualy goes away to an extent. but you can see it very easy with the naked eye. my scope is obsy based stored facing down with a dessicant cap installed to pull out any moisture, with all the reflectors i have had i have never seen anything like this before. any advice, i use this scope for imaging an have used it twice

[Moonshane]

assuming you are talking about the halo around the light, I am sorry to say this appears to look like failed coatings. I may be wrong though as it's hard to tell from pics of course. can you shine a torch on the back of the mirror? if the torch shines through to the topside then it would seem to confirm my fears.

[Daniel-K]

yeah 10 min just put the sprog to bed

[JamesF]

Either that or you've had some exceptionally filthy dew.

James

[Daniel-K]

here a picture back lit with the torch and another one showing the micro spots. its very strange though how its uniform over the entire mirror, that why i have ruled out dew if it was dew wouldnt it be patchy?

[JamesF]

I'm not at all sure it would be patchy if it were dew, to be honest.

James

[Daniel-K]

center spot is out as well

[NGC 1502]

I've seen some odd looking mirrors after they have been brought indoors. If it were me, I'd let it dry very thoroughly overnight, then have a look.

Regards, Ed.

[Daniel-K]

its been in the house for a few hours now and completely at ambient temp

[Austin]

That has been in for a while hasn't it danny? Well, for a new mirror that doesn't look at all normal

[Daniel-K]

not impressed

[Mike73]

Havent you been using it Danny? Have the images/views been poor?

I've recently had a duff 16" GSO with a very rough coating which gave really dim views and the centre spot was 5mm out! Like you say, not impressed!

[Daniel-K]

ive used it twice and to be honest the images were what it would look like if there was dew on the secondary. im waiting on a reply from bern @ MA he must hate me the amount of stuff that gone wrong for me im waiting on a replacement mammut CCD as well

[Mike73]

Sounds exactly like mine.

At least it should be a straight forward exchange to get a replacement, couple days and you'll be back in action.

[Daniel-K]

hope so mike had a real run of bad luck this month

[Cozzy]

Hope you get it sorted.

I agree with James, i had a simular mottled coating on my lens albeit a refractor, it appeared to be a build up of a few nights of heavy dew. I gave it a clean and the lens came up like new.

[Daniel-K]

berns advised me to clean it so i will give it a go tomorrow

[Daniel-K]

cleaned and its gone away . at least i have over come my fear of cleaning a mirror now, but what i did find is that the mirror clips were very tight so when i put them back on there just nipping the mirror now instead of squeezing it

[Astrobits]

It was almost certainly mould. I had some on my mirror because it had been packed away for moving for several months. Cleaned off easily.

Nigel

[Daniel-K]

i just put it through the dishwasher on an eco cycle and used one of those finish tablets lemon flavor aswell came out as new

[JamesF]

i just put it through the dishwasher on an eco cycle and used one of those finish tablets lemon flavor aswell came out as new

Now you need to get the Brasso out and buff it up to a nice shine

James

[MorningMajor]

i just put it through the dishwasher on an eco cycle and used one of those finish tablets lemon flavor aswell came out as new

Now you need to get the Brasso out and buff it up to a nice shine

Oh don't say that - someone will you know!

[Mike73]

Oh don't say that - someone will you know!

I nearly added a post saying 'dont forget the scouring pad and 80 grit sand paper' but had to delete as it made me cringe just thinking about it!

[Beulah]

hope so mike had a real run of bad luck this month

I hope things get better for you soon.

[RikM]

I nearly added a post saying 'dont forget the scouring pad and 80 grit sand paper' but had to delete as it made me cringe just thinking about it!

Yes, I started one about brillo pads but then thought better of it.

How did you actually clean it Danny? Standard distilled water and softly softly approach?