Quote:
Originally Posted by Wavytone
In which case I'd suspect that most of the hazy film you found on the optics was from salt spray. And yes it will attack a mirror coatings quickly, from personal experience.
If you can take the mirror out of the scope and put it in a sealed box when not in use, do that.
An alternative is to make 2 hole in the OTA large enough to get your hands in there and put a shower cap over the mirror.
Lastly, when storing the scope don't leave it standing vertical with the mirror facing up - this is the worst thing you could do. Either on its side - so airborne crud cant settle on the mirror, or better, vertical with the mirror at the top facing down. I used to have a pair of octopus straps in my storage cage for securing an OTA like this so it won't fall over.
As for the secondary - put a sock over it - literally  |
thanks for the advice. the scope is in an ROR observatory and it is parked pointing at the SCP, so the mirrors are protected from anything settling out of the air. No way to protect on clear nights though - it spends all of the night pointing upwards with no protection at all - regularly have to remove straw/lawn clippings that blow in and found some bird/bat/insect? dropping of some sort one morning. I cannot store the OTA upside down - in this scope, the mirror will fall out against the stops and the coating will take the weight.
My wife told me to put a sock in it recently, but maybe that was nothing to do with the telescope..
Quote:
Originally Posted by strongmanmike
Ray's Telescope and Optical Cleaning Services 
Luckily (touch wood) I haven't had any cleanliness issue since washing the primary mirror before mounting the scope in the new observatory way back in August 2014  ...haven't adjusted the polar alignment or colimation either since then..still spot on after using the NJP Polar scope and a rock solid pier  
Look forward to some even better Rayzor sharp images from you
Mike |
thanks for the encouragement Mike. Must be nice to have such a well sorted gear. My biggest problem around here is to keep everything reasonably clean - it is amazing how much barley dust can get airborne during harvest...
Quote:
Originally Posted by brian nordstrom
 if it took a petroleum product to remove it I would think its ' Out - Gassing ' from the origonal paint inside the tube , its a common problem with some scopes/optics .
Glad you had luck getting it off , its scary putting harsh cleaners/solvents on optics .
Brian. |
that's a good point Brian. There was originally some gooey stuff in the mirror stop threads that I cleaned out with solvent. maybe there is still a bit in there. agreed, it is not a good feeling to be messing with the mirror surfaces. Found a website on some pro-level (ie expensive) paint-on solvent/polymer that peels off and takes dirt with it, but it doesn't seem to be available anywhere local. Might try to import some. EDIT: no I won't - enough for a single clean of an 8 inch mirror costs US$122 - won't cost much more for a high reflectivity recoat.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RickS
Could be bad seeing condensing on the glass, Ray  It's got to go somewhere  |
naaah, pretty sure the seeing is still all up there.
Could it be condensed moonlight or PE residue I wonder??