Mirror clean?

[korky]

I was planning on buying a Skywatcher 200 dob later in the year and so I've been sticking to my bins whilst I saved the pennies but a couple of weeks ago I spotted a Heritage 76 mini-dob on gumtree for £15. Couldn't resist in the end and it's now sat on my desk. Seemed rude not to have a play for £15!

The question is, should I attempt to dust off the mirror? It's not filthy by any means but it has clearly been sat with the dust cap off for some time. In fact, it arrived uncapped and for a while I thought the cap was missing until I spotted it pushed onto the mirror end of the tube. The previous owner said it was an unwanted gift and only used once. My guess is that the cap was pushed onto the base to keep it safe and then completely forgotten. Is it worth blowing some air in from a bike pump or attaching a camera lens brush / cloth onto a stick and trying to give it a bit of a clean or just leave it alone?

I've got the finder scope lined up and it all seems to be ok in general terms (looking at inverted chimneys). I know it's not much, but it'll hopefully be an improvement on the shaky views I get from my bins and either I'll lust after the 200P even more or I'll tire of star gazing and I've only lost £15 :-)

[Peter Drew]

Leave it alone!

[Carbon Brush]

First try air (no brush contact) from a camera blower brush. A bike pump may emit a bit of oil or grease. See how that goes before progressing further.

Mirrors are very very easy to damage and work remarkably well when dusty.

Hope this helps.

[barkis]

If it is cleaned badly, it will be a lot worse than leaving it alone,, so heed the good advice

from the previous two posts.

Ron.

[korky]

Cool. Thanks guys. Common sense and caution told me to leave well alone. Mild OCD told me to CLEAN!! :-) I'll leave it all alone and just view :-)

[damnut]

Hi Korky,

Follow these steps :---

1. Make cup of tea.

2. Think about cleaning mirror. If Thirsty goto step 1

3. Goto step 2.

Cheers

[ollypenrice]

One more for leaving it alone. Clean your mirror as often as you change your car engine.

Olly