Dusted off the scope.. Looking forward to getting back into a bit os astronomy.

[Simms]

Well it's been about two years since my scope has seen the light of day, erm, black of night.. But finally got her down today, cleaned her off and set her up.. Looking forward to sun down.

My mirror was rather dusty, still, a microfibre cloth with zero pressure soon took care of that. (see before and after pics)

How is everyone? Missed me?

[knobby]

Yes Mark, we've missed you 

Welcome back 

[Simms]

Hello Gary, how's it going? Last night was a bit of an eye opener - made me realise how much I have forgotten about astronomy. Took me awhile to get it collimated, cleaned, setup & aligned. Managed to get some good views of Jupiter last night, but this time of year from my garden doesn't yield much else. However it has reminded me that it's good to go in with an observing plan so one stays more focused. So today I have dusted off the laptop and might have a go at tracking this evening - not ready to dive into imaging again just yet but it might be on the cards. You still get out much?

[Blazar]

Hi Mark....its all gone a bit quiet to be honest! Weather has been shocking.....it is about time we all headed out again though...

[knobby]

Blazar and myself have been to Margaret Roding a couple of times, but really not that often. Back garden sees a bit of action though.

[Simms]

On 5/30/2017 at 19:32, knobby said:

Blazar and myself have been to Margaret Roding a couple of times, but really not that often. Back garden sees a bit of action though.

PHWOAR!!!!!!!!!! I bet it does.

[spaceboy]

I read microfibre cloth and mirror in the same sentence and cringed but glad to see all went well.

Maybe next time ....

 

[knobby]

Don't frighten him off, he's just come back after a break 

[Simms]

To be honest using zero pressure caused no issues at all - i've checked it from all angles and it is pristine. Back when I used to "astro" all the time I always thought people were a bit too precious when it came to cleaning mirrors - sure if you are cleaning a mirror on the JWST then I can imagine the smallest blemish could be costly - but cleaned my mirror numerous times and as far as I can tell it's still as good as new..

 

[Woolnut]

I am not looking forward to when I need to clean my Primary Mirror... So far it still looks pretty good but I have only had the OTA since October! Thanks for sharing the video @spaceboy, will come in handy when the time comes  

[Alfian]

Cleaning the primary mirror really isn't a big deal, though I suppose anything above 8" becomes a bigger proposition. A primary needs to be quite dirty before you need to worry about it, and shining a light down the tube to see dust reflected off every dust particle is not a good way to judge things. Given your scope is still pretty new I think it unlikely it needs attention just yet.