Ok, have been leaving my scope out heaps over the last few months. We have no nuclear power plants or acid factory, but something is on my mirror and won't come off.
I have washed in detergent, sprayed with windex, rub softly and then hard with cotton buds, rubbed hard with a cloth and even rubbed my finger across the surface.
These marks are not on the surface, more part of it i reckon.
Stand the mirror up vertically in a dark room, & shine a torch on the BACK of the mirror & see if you can see light coming thru on the aluminized side...
My old scope had 'craze' but craze looks nothing like that!!!! Craze is when the air gets under the protective over-coating through a microscopic hole or scratch, and is easily recognisable because it looks like tiny wiggly lines.
Are you able to determine whether the marks are ON the surface or UNDER the surface?
Yes I agree 1ponders - I left the recycle bin under our New Zealand christmas tree and I dont know if it occurs only at this time of year - but I found that the bin had all these small droplets of sap? Was a pain to clean. Where have you placed your scope?
I would not recommend the cleaning method that I undertook - for your mirror, try the snake oil.
When not in use I use a cover - dont want to risk an inquistive bird leaving deposits. Hope all goes well.
Dave, my guess is that it's from woodfire smoke and fog combined, I don't leave my scope out any longer than necessary because of the smoke. My boat paint deteriorated worse in Lonny over winter than when left at the coast.
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