I'm afraid to wipe/clean the lense of my telescope..

[Iancovici]

I've had this celestron 70 travelscope for about 2 weeks now, been using it almost daily. Now I have some small spots on my telescope, I've read the manual for cleaning, but it puts emphasis on how not to wipe with what and when, or else it could take off the protective coating on the lense. I only have the piece of cloth that came with it and no wiping solution. I'm not really sure whether I should wait more before I clean or how often to clean, the spots are visible only from exterior as you can see on picture below but it's not showing when viewing the sky.

Any tips, fellas?

[Moonshane]

as a general rule, optics have to be very dirty to affect the view at the eyepiece. if in doubt don't clean but when it does need cleaning, never do this dry. I tend to use isopropyl alcohol and kitchen roll (no pressure) but many others use Baader wonder fluid and cloth. About £10 and lasts ages apparently.

[Iancovici]

Ah, savvy. Well, I won't clean it yet then, don't won't be a compulsive cleaner like I do with my binocular. What will happen though if you clean the telesope lense too often or in the way that ''lense coating will come off'' you know?

[Gib007]

I tend to use a blower to blow off dust particles and then use a microfiber cloth in a circular motion to gently clean the surfaces of my optics. Never had any problems.

[Iancovici]

..then use a microfiber cloth in a circular motion to gently clean the surfaces of my optics...

The manual for me telescope says "Low pressure strokes should go from the center of the lens (or mirror) to the outer portion. Do NOT rub in circles!" Though I do rub in circles the lenses of my binocular... I'm not sure..

[101nut]

Personally I always do the final cleaning with a decent, very clean cloth (microfibre, lens tissue or whatever you prefer to use), used gently but in a spiral from the centre which drives any residual material to the outer edge. Have done this for years after I was shown how a lens service engineer did it every day ...

AndyG

[Zakalwe]

Just leave it..you are more likely to affect the view through by cleaning it than by leaving those tiny marks there.

And "lense" is spelt "lens".

[nytecam]

as a general rule, optics have to be very dirty to affect the view at the eyepiece. if in doubt don't clean but when it does need cleaning, never do this dry. I tend to use isopropyl alcohol and kitchen roll (no pressure) but many others use Baader wonder fluid and cloth. About £10 and lasts ages apparently.

Well said eg don't clean unless absolutely necessary...and sorry DON'T use any old kitchen-roll !

Use only isopropyl alcohol lens cleaning fluid [boots etc] and Kleenex non-scented tissue [discard the top one!] and discard after each wipe and don't reuse! Once visited Celestron Pacific HQ in California and watched the assembly and cleaning of their optics - got above tips from them.

Keep OG capped immediately when not in use - I've only cleaned the corrector plate of my near nightly used 12" SCT maybe 4 or 5 times in over a decade

[ronin]

The coating should take a fair bit of effort to come off, especially if the cloth/lens is damp first.

Over all the years I have never had a coating come off of anything.

Slightly different but have a look at the ES recommended way to clean their eyepieces:

Scroll the bar to 8 minutes then sit and watch.

Yes it really is ES demonstrating how to clean their eyepieces. :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

After that tell me if you are still afraid to clean your lens.

[Iancovici]

OK... I feel bit more confident now.. thank you all for your tips, I'll probly clean the lens once per year and only if it's really dirty. I'm probly also overly protective and sensitive as this is my first telescope ever in my life and though it's not much from western standard I consider it pretty high tech and a financial investment for my level.. like a baby basically, you understand..

[Zakalwe]

Scroll the bar to 8 minutes then sit and watch.

Yes it really is ES demonstrating how to clean their eyepieces. :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

After that tell me if you are still afraid to clean your lens.

LOL...best take the warning in the video seriously though. Do that with any other lens and you are going to ruin it (water penetration between the optical surfaces)

[SkyGibbon]

Little bit of distilled water on a lint free cotton swab does the trick. Dry with more lint free cotton swabs.

[ronin]

That was posted on CN and when I watched it I did cringe a bit. Waterproof or not I cannot quite see me cleaning one in an aquarium.

[jetstream]

The coating should take a fair bit of effort to come off, especially if the cloth/lens is damp first.

Over all the years I have never had a coating come off of anything.

Slightly different but have a look at the ES recommended way to clean their eyepieces:

Scroll the bar to 8 minutes then sit and watch.

Yes it really is ES demonstrating how to clean their eyepieces. :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

After that tell me if you are still afraid to clean your lens.

This might be a good reason to buy ES eyepieces,if you can clean them by immersion...same way as a mirror...

[Moonshane]

broadly if you don't drag anything or rub anything hard across the surface of an eyepiece of refracting lens you are unlikely to cause any damage. make sure there are no 'bits' on before you clean and you'll be fine, but do it as little as possible.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Just leave it..you are more likely to affect the view through by cleaning it than by leaving those tiny marks there.

And "lense" is spelt "lens".

And "spelt" is spelled "spelled". Spelt is a type of grain.

[Zakalwe]

And "spelt" is spelled "spelled". Spelt is a type of grain.

Only if you're 'merican....

http://www.englishforums.com/English/SpelledOrSpelt/kzmjz/post.htm

[dephelis]

Couldn't stop myself wincing during that video!

Zakalwe, wow that question and answer got quite heated down at the bottom!

[Zakalwe]

Zakalwe, wow that question and answer got quite heated down at the bottom!

Blimey..it did, didn't it?

[Stargazer_00]

the potential to damage the coatings is trivial. Just use a puffer to remove any grit and then get stuck in. If you want to use water, use bottled or distilled otherwise you might get deposits left when it dries. Or just use blue window cleaner and a microfibre cloth or cotton buds. Work in a circuluar motion from the centre out to the edge and throw the bud away after each use so.

I think the same applies to eyepieces, even the really expensive ones. A bit of common sense goes a long way. Obviously dont deliberatly get them dirty but don't get paranoid about it either. Humans are messy animals and you'll definiately get grease, skin flakes, eye lash marks etc on your eyepieces as time goes by. Just clean them, they aren't really going to get so ruined that they are unusable. And if they somehow manage to, buy another one!

[pete_l]

The flip side of not cleaning an optic until it looks really dirty is that it's not necessary to clean it until it's spotlessly clean.

As has been said by many on here, it takes a lot of muck to affect the view (or imaging) through a dirty lens. Similarly, if you only clean off the worst of the dirt your view will be indistinguishable from "as new".

So a quick clean will get rid of most of the "easy" dirt and restore your view, without going nuclear and trying to remove every last speck. It's that over-zealous wash/scrub/rinse/spin that is likely to damage the optic's surface: whether by scratching it or by rubbing off the coating.