Did I damage my ASI2600MM Pro???

[Vinnyvent84]

Wondering if I can pick the hive mind brain as I am pretty nervous I somehow screwed things up with my camera. About 6 or so weeks ago I got the ASI2600MM Pro (purchased brand new so not oil leak issue) and the Antlia 2.5nm SHO set. I noticed in my flats yesterday afternoon I what looked like a circle smudge near the center. It was happening across the board on all 3 filters so I concluded it was either something on the OTA lens or the camera itself. 

Lens was clear so I moved on to the camera. I inspected it under a flashlight. The AR window had a bit of dust - I used my hand air blaster and hit both sides. Reassembled everything and then tried flats again. The large circular looking smudge had now vanished but a small dark (somewhat sharp) speck was in the center of the frame. So I proceeded to take it all apart again and repeat the process. Reassembled and it was still there. Yet again, took it apart but this time I used clearer with those flat fan shaped swabs on both sides of the AR window and a few passes over the sensor (since the dot was small and sharp it led me to believe it was on the actual sensor this time) after air blasting it yet again. Reassembled and now to my shock it’s MUCH worse as you can see below. My work area was as clean as I could possibly get it with no open windows or fans on. This is appearing across all 3 filters. Image below, red arrow one shows initial issue, image with no arrow shows how its now MUCH worse. Did I somehow ruin my camera?

 

Edited August 29 by Cornelius Varley
text colour corrected

[Tomatobro]

tiny specs of dust are really hard to see with the naked eye. I use one of the cheap USB hand held microscopes to view the glass and for illumination a white LED torch held at the side at an angle of 45 degrees.

 

[tomato]

With regard to the original dark smudge I have managed to produce a moisture/ice spot in the middle of the sensor if applying the cooling too harshly under adverse humidity conditions. If I allow the camera to warm up I watch it slowly disappear, but it doesn’t leave a hard black speck. They are too big to be dead pixels, they look like dust specs directly on the sensor window. Flats should take care of them if they stay in place throughout the session.

[TiffsAndAstro]

See if flats deal with it? 

[900SL]

It's likely dust on the sensor. I accidentally removed the cover casing on a 178mm and I've never been able to get it spotless since. 

Try flats rather than scrubbing..