marks on sct secondary - what shall I do?

[Trevor-Austin]

While collimating last night I noticed, While shining my iphone torch onto the corrrector that there are marks on my secondary (reflected in the primary). Now I know this is not a recommended "test" and you aren't supposed to clean the secondary but these are definite marks.

Can;t really see how they've got there as what they look like is bug splats like you get on your windscreen in the summer not big moth or bee ones but greenfly or blackfly. Maybe 5-6 of them, other than that the mirror looks spotless.

Any ideas, would you really leave them i it was yours or would you be tempted to clean them off?

Trevor

[blinky]

Leave 'em - I am sure I read somewhere that doing what you did you will see what you saw (does that make sense?) and it's normal.

[GazOC]

I'd leave it Trevor.

[Rob]

No need to worry.. worry more if you start to take things apart (been there), then you don't get the orientation of the corrector back. Took me weeks to get it right. I did in the end but it was so not worth it to clean my mirrors... they would have to be real dirty to make me go through that again

Dont take it apart for small marks, only for a major service!

Rob

[Trevor-Austin]

I saw the same article, think they called it the flashlight test:)

But it looks like they'll be such an easy wipe off:)

I think I will leave it until I need to maybe take it apart.

Very frustrating knowing it's there, wish I hadn't looked, lol.

[John]

Very frustrating knowing it's there, wish I hadn't looked, lol.

I think shining a torch down a scope is always a bad idea - perfectly decent optics look awful under the harsh glare !.

I've dismantled an SCT once for cleaning and, like Rob, it's not something I'd like to repeat too often - it's a delicate job and even when you get to the optics it's not just a case of a "quick wipe" - the cleaning needs to be done very carefully and with the right materials.

[E621Keith]

Those bugs are on your secondary right?

What SCT do your have? The secondary on my C6 can be removed quite easily. Simply unscrew the secondary holder, take out the secondary, clean it with a blower, put it back in, screw back the holder and collimate the scope.

I think the secondary on all fastar/hyperstar capable SCT can be removed easily and there is no need to strip the corrector or mess with the primary.

http://starizona.com/acb/instructions/HyperStar%20C6.pdf

Essentially just step 3 and 4

[Trevor-Austin]

An lx90, I would only have to remove the corrector but just not sure