How to clean optics

I asked the question to John at Birr a few years ago, his reply was simply to wash the mirror in the bath with flowing water...a tiny amount of washing up liquid added, drain and dry with a "clean wooly towel" I did...it works....there is "NO NEED" to clean ur telescope mirror unless it is really dirty, also said that distilled water was not needed.
Charles

Hi All,

Many of you have probably seen it already but there was a great article on cleaning eyepieces/optics/mirrors in the Jan/Feb issue of Night Sky magazine. I can make a scan if anyone wants it. Not sure if I can post the scan to the forum because of copyright.

Main points were.

1/ Best way to remove grit from a mirror is to place it under a tap on a cloth and blast it with some water.
2/ If there's still some dirt use some detergent with lukewarm water and swab lightly with a clean cotton cloth.
3/ Finally, rinse off with tap water, followed by distilled water (distilled water won't leave a water stain).

Another interesting note from the article was that for any noticeable optical degradation to occur you would need a piece of opaque dirt on the mirror equivalent to 1/30th of the mirror diameter. In my case (8”) that would be just over a ¼ inch square! Far more tolerant than I would have expected. Just aw well i didn't try to clean mine before I bought this issue.

Hope this helps,

Trev

Someone mentioned mirror cleaning ? See below:

www.nexstarsite.com/OddsNEnds/CleaningMirrors.htm

and here is the one on cleaning optics:

www.nexstarsite.com/OddsNEnds/CleaningOpticsGlass.htm

For picking bits of debris off lenses, mirrors or even CCD chips I use a product called a SpeckGrabber Pro. It can delicately pick just about anything off a sensitive surface. It should be available in most camera stores I got one in the the Square for less than €20.