Occular hygiene?

[Rusted]

Hi Guys, Gals, etc.

I often leave eyepieces in the focusers of my observatory telescopes to act as spider and dust stops.
The arrival of what passes for summer has suddenly brought the worry of flies sitting on these eyepieces. Yuk!

I searched for eyepiece hygiene but the idiot AI thought I meant "Huygenian."
I don't have access to UV as suggested in one terrifying scientific/industrial/medical report. 🤮

Can't use "wet wipes" because they smear the glass.
Spectacle lens tissues in foil sachets are far too fiddly to use on every change of eyepiece.
The washing machine gets a bit noisy of you toss in too many hard objects all at once.

Do you have an effective, eyepiece cleansing routine which would be worth sharing with the "great unwashed"?

What do you do when more than one bod is using the telescopes in rapid succession? Public observatory or outreach events, for example?

Thanks

[Alien 13]

I only ever use a lens pen for all my optics but not sure how well that would disinfect, UV is available for free outdoors but point any glass to the east of the suns position.

Alan

Edited June 10, 2019 by Alien 13

[Ruud]

Alcohol would do the job.

[Carbon Brush]

I use Baader wonder fluid (available from all good astro retailers.....) and the associated cloth.

Not cheap. But a bottle goes a long way and costs a lot less than a new eyepiece.
Shifts most stains and evaporates reasonably quickly to remove smears.

The spray on the bottle ensures even coating with economy.

 

[GlenM]

Baader Wonder Fluid and microfibre cloth is what I use. Fiddly sometimes, but works a treat.

 

Glen.

 

[Rusted]

Thank you, to all who replied.

I have reservations about spraying the optics directly.
The dampened cloth would work well just well against germs as well as dust, grease and dirt.
The cloth can be washed and dried quickly once it will stand up on its own.

I use a bulb blower and spectacle lens spray on a microfiber cloth for my binos.
It's like having a new pair of binos if I leave it a week between cleaning.
Though I use the binos every day for bird watching, too.
Getting the cloth into the very edges of the lens is the main problem.
It needs a thin, well worn cloth for that.
Though, by then, they are usually shedding their own [microfiber] dust.

[Paz]

The main things I do, obsessively, are always blow an eyepiece with a blower every time it comes out of the scope and never let an eyepiece dew up.

Bits of dust etc blow off easily of it is done soon after they land. But if they are left they get more attached/stuck with time and then a blower won't be able to help.

Dew on a surface helps to fix any dirt/dust/particles down even faster hence is beneficial to avoid.

[Ben the Ignorant]

After returning from the club's observatory first thing I did was clean my binoculars' eyecups and eyecup covers with alcohol, it evaporates so fast you don't have much time to do the cleaning. But that's a good thing, the cleaning has to be brief, and the quickly evaporating pharmacy alcohol (ethanol) leaves no traces.

I've stopped lending my binoculars because skin or eye infections are a real risk, and I bought another bottle of alcohol that I left at the observatory's little eyepiece locker, with a bag of those cotton patches women use to remove make-up, recommending they clean eyecups after each public session.

However it caused another problem, dumping the alcohol-soaked patches in the bin causes a fire hazard, so they would have to be burnt on the grass each time, don't know that all the other people have the patience to go through that. What is a good, non-flammable disinfection agent suitable for optics? 

[Rusted]

A steel storage bin with a well sealing lid might help. Not sure a flip-top, pedal bin would be airtight enough.
I've seen some solvents which have a warning on the container against self-combusting waste. Duly avoided.

The first "scientific" hit online discussed the very real dangers of shared microscopes.
"Staph" was mentioned but was only one potentially serious infection.

Public viewpoint telescopes do at least get a regular rinse from the weather and solar UV.
Plus bird poo and flies, of course.

What alerted me was using my binoviewers straight-though while pointing seriously upwards at the sun in H-a.
It felt like burning sand had been dropped into my eyes from the rubber eye-cups. NOT BURNING RAYS!
Fortunately the Meade 4000 rubber is as fragile as you could wish for and simply peels off to leave a neat ring.
I nipped indoors for a thorough flush of my eyes with running water and suffered no further problems.
 

[F15Rules]

I would:

1. Put dustcaps on my eyepieces

2. Cover the whole scope with an old sheet as a dust cover, this can be easily washed now and again.

3. Reflect on the fact that in 30 plus years of observing I have never come to any harm from "suspected contaminated eyepieces", and 

4. Get on with enjoying my hobby, life is too short to worry obsessively☺.

Dave