Mirror is back from the doctor - artifacts

[PKay]

Yes the mirror appeared spotless...until I looked at it closely.
There were dust particles, small smears and spots.

I mixed up distilled water, 5% alcohol and a touch of detergent.
Gave the mirror a good drowning, and finished with distilled water.
Done that many times, always with good results.

It looked perfect...until...

I waited for the sun to shine through the window onto the mirror.

At an angle of 45 degrees, all manner of 'problems' appeared.

I could see 'blemishes' a light purple in colour.
I could see small blurry spots, again purple in colour.
I could see countless small (very small) 'bubbles' in the glass.

When the sun went, the mirror looked faultless again.

Am I being 'picky'?
Do all 'perfect' mirrors still have flaws?

[Wavytone]

Be careful. Water will lift the coating, causing the pinholes. Gets worse every time you wash it.

[thebonz]

I had my parks 10 inch recoated from LOCAL source and for me it was money well spent. After nearly 2 years it still is awesome and holds it's own
John

[leon]

Peter I expect that you may be a little picky, I say this in the nicest way text can say it.

When I had my reflector and the mirror was down the bottom of the tube, it was always suggested never to shine a torch down there unless you wanted a severe shock, all the flaws and nasty looking things would appear. :eyepop:

A bit like the Sun shining on your mirror, what you are seeing is quite normal and will have no effect on viewing anything. ;)

Did you know that one can actually good detail of objects without even having the mirror coated.

Leon :thumbsup:

[casstony]

Probably most mirrors look perfect in ordinary room light and imperfect in direct sunlight or under a flashlight.

[leon]

yep, they sure do, but the viewing is not affected unless the mirror is truly out of wack, so to speak.

Leon