Mirror cleaning with dry ice

[DavidU (Dave)]

There is a pic of Specialists from the EADS-Astrium Toulouse team (which built the Herschel telescope) cleaning the mirror with dry ice.
http://sci.esa.int/science-e-media/i...escope_008.jpg

I used to panic just cleaning my 10"

[erick (Eric)]

Now that caught my attention. OK, guys, don't start rubbing the surface of your mirrors with big lumps of dry ice!

"From 15 to 17 February the delicate process of the final cleaning of the 3.5-metre diameter primary telescope mirror and the smaller secondary mirror was performed to reach the good cleanliness level required for the telescope at launch. This was carried out using carbon dioxide snow (more commonly known as dry ice) which is produced by highly compressed liquid CO2 being expelled under high pressure. The snow particles, which are sprayed onto the mirror surface at an angle, vapourize and in the process carry off any contaminants which may have rested on the mirror surface. This technique is widely used also for ground-based astronomical telescopes and has the major advantage of not requiring any physical contact with the optical surface."

Neat and Cool! (really cool, actually!) Thanks, David

Here is the full story:-

http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/obj...objectid=44312

[DavidU (Dave)]

Just a thought
I wonder if you can take a mirror to the car wash.(the high pressure hand held type).
A quick spray of soap, spray off with high pressure water, then get the distilled water out of the car for a final rinse and carefully clean up the droplets with tissue. This way there is nothing but water in contact with the mirror.
Thoughts? Too silly?

[gmbfilter (Geoff)]

Why not go to the car wash
I take my 18" in the bath with me!
Have to be careful you don't blow away center spot

[renormalised (Carl)]

Originally Posted by gmbfilter

Why not go to the car wash
I take my 18" in the bath with me!
Have to be careful you don't blow away center spot

Now all we need is a bottle of bubbly and a couple of candles...

[Terry B]

Originally Posted by DavidU

Just a thought
I wonder if you can take a mirror to the car wash.(the high pressure hand held type).
A quick spray of soap, spray off with high pressure water, then get the distilled water out of the car for a final rinse and carefully clean up the droplets with tissue. This way there is nothing but water in contact with the mirror.
Thoughts? Too silly?

Just avoid the soap brush.

[Mike21 (Michael)]

Are you guys in the correct forum? Hot baths, candles, bubbly and blowing away the centre spot? Where's the moderator?

[Spanrz (Brett)]

Hahahaha. Mike21...

Didn't they use CO2 on the Keck mirrors?

[DavidU (Dave)]

Originally Posted by Spanrz

Didn't they use CO2 on the Keck mirrors?

Yes. I believe most large mirrors are cleaned this way.

Mike21