Log in

View Full Version here: : Spots on optics help identify


netwolf
06-07-2014, 03:46 PM
Picked up a nexstar 8se and I noticed these spots on it and the diagonal. Easier to image the diagonal. Can anyone identify loom like a snowflake.

Similar smaller spot on corrector and also around the edge of the baffle on the primary and the edge of the primary.

Corrector
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jj3j4b5urz3qto9/2014-07-06%2015.09.52.jpg

LewisM
06-07-2014, 04:02 PM
I am willing to bet that is mold.

Remedy - take it out in the sun, let the UV kill the spores. Usually helps significantly. Failing that, you will need to disassemble and clean, more-so killing the spores (or they will return). I found that hydrogen peroxide does a decent job on killing the spores, followed by a wipe with either Bintel's UHTC cleaning fluid, Astro-Physics wonderful refractor cleaning kit, or home brewed Windew with ethanol, with a dash of high-grade acetone.

If you don't - and you may already be too late - the mold will actually etch into the coatings, and eventually the glass itself.

netwolf
06-07-2014, 07:52 PM
Thanks Lewis will give the sun a try the previous owner lived near the beach and did have it mostly in storage as it was unused. If sun don't work may see if Bintel will have a go at it, I'm not keen to open it up myself.

netwolf
07-07-2014, 10:47 AM
More pics u can see primary on this and corrector.

left th3 diagonal on the window sill to see how it goes with sunlight