cleaning my mirror ?

[Dazraz]

Hi im fairly new with a telescope and have recently noticed that my mirror has bits of debrie and dust on it so i got a feather duster brand new and waved it in front of the mirror and removed these bits - bit silly asking after i have done it but can i do this ?

Regards

[nightfisher]

you are better of using a little "air puffer "thing, if you see what i mean

[haitch]

I would guess that feathers have natural oils in which could transfer to your mirror so maybe not the best things. If you did just wave without touching then probably ok.

Generally mirrors can accumulate quite a bit of dust without it affecting the view and are best left alone as much as possible.

Telescope mirrors aren't like normal mirrors the "silvering" is on the front surface not the back (otherwise the light passing through glass would cause distortions). This makes them fairly delicate and even wiping them with cotton wool can damage them. There's a few guides about including threads on here and videos on YouTube.