How do I clean my 114 mm reflector mirror?

[timetraveler3]

Hi Everyone,

I am fairly new to all of this but am having so much fun.  Saw the double cluster last night for the first time, it was amazing!  I have a 114 mm Celestron reflector.

After last nights viewing I noticed that my primary mirror looks dirty. It looks spotted like water drops that dried on it or something .(perhaps from condensation after coming in from the cold MInnesota night?)  I don't think it was there before. It doesn't seem to affect my viewing but maybe it is.

How do I clean the mirror and with what?  Do I have to remove the mirror and if so how? I am assuming Windex is not the way to go. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. 

[Moonshane]

I'd leave it as there will be no difference at all.

[Paulhenry85]

I'd leave it as there will be no difference at all.

I agree I cleaned my old 114eq and for all the messing around and stress it made absolutely no difference.

[ScottS]

General consensus is leave it until it really is filthy. You're more likely to damage/scratch the mirror through regular cleaning, and it would be more detrimental to the view and life of your optics than a few water marks/dust etc. My primary is far from spotless at the moment, but it has made no noticeable difference to the view I get at the EP.

[Charic]

Hi Everyone,

I am fairly new to all of this but am having so much fun.  Saw the double cluster last night for the first time, it was amazing!  I have a 114 mm Celestron reflector.

After last nights viewing I noticed that my primary mirror looks dirty. It looks spotted like water drops that dried on it or something .(perhaps from condensation after coming in from the cold MInnesota night?)  I don't think it was there before. It doesn't seem to affect my viewing but maybe it is.

How do I clean the mirror and with what?  Do I have to remove the mirror and if so how? I am assuming Windex is not the way to go. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. 

timetraveler3..............Hi,.........your mirror needs to be stinking filthy before it will affect the image.  leave well alone.! However, you will clean it,  it seems pointless not to try, and  then   getting all the optics aligned up again  after rebuild (collimation). Once you`ve done all that, there will be two outcomes. 1. You will have learnt about collimation 2. You wont see any difference, unless your mirror was really dirty. 

[timetraveler3]

Thanks, I will leave it alone, that's a relief.  I agree it did not seem to affect anything. 

[impactcrater]

my simple 2 bobs worth...you may just be seeing the reflection of things on the glass at the front of the scope where the primary mirror is held....

[astronymonkey]

I agree with all of the comments here. So unless a bird has pooped down the tube, just leave well alone......its not worth the effort and won't make any difference to the view.

Cheers

[Naemeth]

Thanks, I will leave it alone, that's a relief.  I agree it did not seem to affect anything. 

It takes a lot of dust to make any difference, dew on the other hand makes a lot of difference, because:

Dust reduces the light that gets to the mirror and reduces the light reflected from it

Dew scatters the light in thousands of different directions, making the image blurry.

[shyam]

On 2013/11/25 at 03:50, Paulhenry85 said:

I agree I cleaned my old 114eq and for all the messing around and stress it made absolutely no difference.

hi

untill unless our face in not seen properly in the primary reflector, would prefer not to clean the mirrors. Rather than cleaning mirror often i would say collimation is a must if not daily once every two months.

[LukeSkywatcher]

If you are new to astronomy, this means so is your scope?. I seriously doubt it needs cleaning. Ive had a reflector now for maybe 7-8 yrs and have never cleaned its mirror. Mind you, it has spent most of the time in its box with its dust cap on.