Hi all,
First time posting. I have a 12" dob where the primary is looking rather worse for wear.
After reading up around the web on how to clean one of these things, and additionally weighing up the numerous warnings of doing more harm then good, I decided to not shy away from giving it a go.
Check out the results in this image showing before and after 2 separate rounds of cleaning:
http://imgur.com/x3Lf4kJ
If you're wondering if there's an image compression issue playing with the clarity of the picture, alas, the mirror really is in that bad shape!
Admittedly the mirror is in really poor condition partly because of my half-hearted attempts to keep it stored away dust free when not in use and also when using the scope I need to be more careful in general.
But I wanted to get opinions if this mirror needs a re-coat or a replacement. Apart from staining that won't come off as it's most likely been there for some time and I would imagine has eaten into the coating, I think there's a bigger issue here...
My dob is a Meade Lightbridge purchased ~10 years ago and my amateur eye is telling me that the coating has deteriorated over time. Other posters have mentioned that GSO mirrors back in the day had this exact issue, but would be handy to hear what you think.
Thanks for reading,
Tom