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Awesome Video Chris!! Glad You Could Clean It Properly!! I did Clean The Mirror of My 76mm Dob, around 4 Months Ago, with Distilled Water! Mission accomplished!!🥂 I did Not Use Cotton Ball. I just Dipped It In the Water And giggled and Shaking It to Remove Dust, without Touching! Was afraid Of Touching The Mirror. So I did Just That, Rinsing in the Water! It some How Worked :-D Dew Is Definitely a Problem For Neutonians mirrors! Im Thinking To Put Dew Heater Strips on the front! It should Help To Reduce dew Formation On wet Nights! Nice Video! Great Guide For Those Who Already Have Newts! Im sure This Will Help Many Beginner's. Thumbs up👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 Clear Skies! 🌠

@AstroLaVista

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks Aventeesh, I appreciate that, and I'm glad your mirror clean went well also with the quick soak. I think a fan blowing across the mirror could also help prevent the need for mirror cleaning. This is something I'm looking into. Cheers :)

I find a lot of people worry too much about dirt and the odd scratch on a mirror. Yes it would be great to have a perfectly clean and scratch and sleek free mirror, but it is amazing how 'dirty' a mirror can look and it have no difference in how objects appear in the field of view. Of course there will be time when cleaning will be needed, but it wont be as frequent as you might think. Ironically, having said all that my own mirror does need a wash. At 20 inch in diameter though I can't get it in the sink!

I just cleaned the mirror on my H130P Chris, the fingertip method worked brilliantly - amazing what you can feel with the fingertips. I now have a pristine mirror again!

@AstroLaVista

2 жыл бұрын

Hey Rob, I just caught your post on SGL, it really does get them spotless, and I was also taken back by how well you could feel grit and dirt! It kind of halts you in your tracks doesn't it. Great to hear it worked so well for you too mate :)

just cleaned mine doing what you did, first time cleaned in 10 years ,, thanks for a good video

@AstroLaVista

2 жыл бұрын

No problem, glad it helped :)

Thanks for that Chris, next time I clean my 200P mirror I will give that method a go. It certainly looked like you achieved a very good result.

@AstroLaVista

2 жыл бұрын

Hi Peter, It came out looking pretty much like new so I have no hesitation in endorsing this way over the cotton wool dragging method I tried a few years back.

Interesting idea, interesting video 🤓👌🏻 ...got a couple of small mirrors knocking about I'd intended to try and repurpose at some point, think i might give this method a try on them

@AstroLaVista

2 жыл бұрын

Glad you found it interesting Steve, yeah give it a go! I'm really pleased with how this turned out so I'll be using this method moving forward.

Nice video! I have to admit - the prospect of cleaning my mirror doesn’t fill me with glee but it seems (slightly) less scary than it was before after watching this.

I've got a 400mm mirror and clean it every year and with this method,cleaned it one year and when I went to use it again there was spider goo all over it lol. One thing though ,rubbing alcohol for final rince is cheaper

Hi Chris. Long interesting video and here's hoping it's a success! Aye I've seen the cotten wool method and works especially you don't want to scratch mirror. I'm in wonderland right now as few weeks ago while camping in Oban I phoned second hand shop and asked them if they had the Huawei p30pro and yep so I paid deposit that made me so happy and yesterday I went to see phone and it's in like new condition and looked at camera WOW. I asked guy you got Huawei p40pro and yep he said so I paid deposit so next few weeks getting Huawei p30pro and in November getting Huawei p40pro. I've seen a milky way shot with p40pro and it's like a professional dslr image it looks unbelievable. that shot just the reason why I'm getting Huawei p40pro as Huawei smartphone cameras are the Godzilla of cameras!!! I think I put my Pixel 4 towards the Huawei p40pro. I'm hoping this October when camping in highlands I'll get a clear night or two for my setup. This mirror method I never knew so that's interesting and looks alot cleaner. Would using too much soap not be good? Hope you'll get better views now and clear sky too. Looks like scotland is heading towards another lockdown as covid cases are record high with all over Scotland covid is out of control! Thanks very much this interesting video and lastly I've got my first astrophotographer subscriber from America on my channel! Take care friend and stay safe!!!

@AstroLaVista

2 жыл бұрын

Hey John, Well I hope you enjoy the upgrade when you get it. I must say I'm impressed with my Samsung Galaxy S20FE, the video for that's in the pipeline. I actually shot this whole 4K video on that phone, really impressed with how phones are now days. That's terrible to hear about the COVID cases, I must admit I've not been keeping up with the news as much as I should. I kind of got all newsed out and wanted a break from the despair lol Anyway, keep yourself safe mate, and I'm really pleased you've got your first Astrophotographer subscriber....wait a minute wasn't I your first astrophotographer subscriber ;)

Mission accomplished on both experiments I'd say Chris... Got to be honest I've never heard of reverse osmosis water before.. Seems to do the trick though.. You've certainly got enough of it lol..

@AstroLaVista

2 жыл бұрын

lol yeah it would have been a shame not to give it a go with such a big bottle of the stuff hanging about :D I use it for my marine fish tank (I mix it with marine salt to make up the water). It certainly seems to work just as well as distilled water, not a streak in sight, cheers!

Great video Chris! - I can't cope with dirt on my mirrors/lenses when it starts to build at all, I think of all the light being lost! - so pretty much every scope i've ever owned has been cleaned at one point or another! Luckily it's always gone well with enough caution applied, it doesn't stop it being kind of nerve-racking though! :D This is an interesting idea for sure and seemed to work very well, top job! Clear skies mate!

@AstroLaVista

2 жыл бұрын

Hey Luke, thanks for watching! I'll hazard a guess that you own some Baader wonder fluid to go with that nice esprit of yours? ;) It's nerve racking wit a cheap reflector so I can imagine the fear is ramped up a bit with a nice Apo triplet! I think I'll be using the above method for mirrors in future as the mirror looks as good as new now (the remaining spot bugged me so I gave the mirror a third bath :D )

@lukomatico

2 жыл бұрын

@@AstroLaVista Hey Chris! - you got me, I do have some of the baader fluid haha!! - truth be told though when I cleaned my esprit, I just used soap and water!! - I'm pretty sure glaciers move faster than I did while doing it though 😂😂 I'm glad you got that last spot off by the way, it was just asking to be removed 👌😁 Clear skies mate

Nice and well done! Funnily enough this is how I first learned to clean mirrors and its the method I've been using since I first started having to clean mirrors :-) The cotton ball under its own weight just didn't work with the sticky Japanese cyprus pollen. I do like to have a little bit more dishwashing soap than recommended so I feel like i have more of a "layer" between my fingers and the mirror, but that's psychological:-)

@AstroLaVista

Жыл бұрын

Hi Cuiv, exactly! Cotton buds under their own weight only seem to superficially clean; you have no 'feel' for the sticky deposits left behind. More dish soap sounds good for helping to dissolve sticky deposits. You can always rinse well with tap water and do a final rinse with distilled, its a good shout :) Thanks for watching, and on that note I'm in ore of how much quality content you're producing . Anyone that makes videos knows it's a lot more than just turning on a camera and speaking. I guess I just wanted to acknowledge your hard work. Have a great weekend!

Liked this video? More DIY related videos here: Building a light shroud for your Dobsonian telescope kzread.info/dash/bejne/aoqBo7WAc6_coJM.html&t Quick guide to building a Dobsonian mount kzread.info/dash/bejne/lZ6jo86tmsrIgs4.html Does Your Laser Collimator Need Collimating? kzread.info/dash/bejne/dqyhqq-Smqy6Y6w.html How to Build a Shed Based Telescope Observatory kzread.info/dash/bejne/hourm9pypq7dY7Q.html Recycled observatory tour kzread.info/dash/bejne/rKCcscOmqrqTcto.html

Canned air used for cleaning keyboards works great to remove water drops.

Worked a treat. Tried on a 130mm spherical first to get my confidence up. Saves using so much cotton wool.

Surely manufacturers could devise a way to grip mirror by putting recess in sides of the substance mirror is sitting on , then clips won't be on actual mirror at all!

Get vid Chris, you’ve given me some incentive (and courage) to clean my 130P which is looking decidedly grimy. So should the mirror clips not be touching the mirror?

@AstroLaVista

2 жыл бұрын

Hi Rob, good to hear. The clips just need to be lightly touching so you can squeeze a thin bit a paper between the clips and the mirror. It's a bit of a balancing act - too loose and it wont hold collimation, whereas too tight the optics become pinched and your stars look wacky.

Nice video Chris! Interesting to see different cleaning methods, this one with the fingers seems a little risky, would not have been better to clean with a soft cloth after?

@AstroLaVista

2 жыл бұрын

Hi loan, as explained in the video the idea of using your fingers is so you can feel any grid on the mirror so you stop rather than drag grit across the mirror. I also talked about how your fingers become very soft after thorough washing. Having used both methods I do prefer the results of this technique, my mirror looks brand new and the coatings are fully intact.

@GalaxyArtMedia

2 жыл бұрын

@@AstroLaVista I know mate i watched all the video, was just asking if you combine also with the cloth if is safer, i feel my fingers sometime they have a lot of grease, is hard for me to know if i did not try so i asked :)

I'm going to try that. Thankyou.

Safe to assume the hairdryer was not your own Chris? Nice upload, you got a great result there!

@AstroLaVista

2 жыл бұрын

Ah thanks Daniel, yeah I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I think I'll be using this technique next time I need to clean a mirror. The hairdryer works wonders on my beard...and mirrors! but indeed it's my wife's.

I did it once practicing with a mirror from an old telescope. Fortunately it was old and the worst thing was that it left a long time submerged in water and the central collimation circle disappeared. Is there any way to protect it during washing? Next time I will try to do it like you. Thanks for your video.

@AstroLaVista

2 жыл бұрын

Hi, I'm Sorry to hear that. I think the only way to protect the centre dot is to limit the time the mirror is in the water. Cheers.

A good twist on an old theme, well done. A thought struck me at the end of the video, what about cleaning out the optical tube, if there's dirt, pollen etc on the mirror, it must be inside the optical tube too?

@AstroLaVista

2 жыл бұрын

I guess there must be particles stuck to the inside of the tube. They usually spray the inside of telescope tubes matt black, but I'm not sure how wipeable matt paint is?

@tomreid7

2 жыл бұрын

@@AstroLaVista I'm sure a damp sponge wouldn't hurt, I've got a mirror to clean, and intend blowing through the tube with compressed air, then wipe it down.

Hi Chris, thanks for the video. Are you making the Reverse Osmosis water (units cost from £40 and up) or buying it from a Fish Shop? The video was going very well, until you refitted the mirror to the cell. Was it OK to use the paper off the kitchen floor (mixing dirty environments with a cleaned one)? Would it be better to test the fit of the cells with paper at the start - you can determine how much to undo the screws for the difference of one or two sheets paper? On reassembly only to undo by the same amount (1/4 turn) without using any paper. I have a 30 year old 10" mirror that looks OK and has never been cleaned, I might give this method a go. Times change and the mirror was made by David Hinds (himself). Simon

@AstroLaVista

2 жыл бұрын

Hi Simon, the paper on the kitchen floor was probably a bad habit to show, really. I had cleaned the kitchen floor just before filming so hopefully it wasn't too bad :D I set up a marine fish tank about a year ago now and I currently buy all my water from the local fish store. I may get a larger tank at some point in which case I'll buy the kit to make my own reverse osmosis water to save some money in the long run. If I'm understanding correctly you would tighten the clips against the mirror then release them by the amount determined by the paper at the beginning. The only issue is that as you tighten the clips against the mirror (which would be your datum point), it doesn't come to a dead stop, the mirror flexes making it tricky to judge where this datum point is. I think the paper is important when re fitting because you know how much pressure is on the mirror at that stage. I hope that makes sense? Sounds like a nice mirror, do you know the wave front error? Cheers Chris

@foxglovemead

2 жыл бұрын

@@AstroLaVista Good point about flexing the mirror. Making (using) your own “paper” feeler gauge is preferable. The mirror is (supposed to be) 1/10 wavelength and without the edges being rolled. There was a time when grinding your own mirror, with the final figuring from spherical to parabolic, being a critical step. Now we can buy excellent Chinese products at affordable prices.

I cleaned a mirror in a 20 year old Meade 4.5 inch reflector. I didn't have any distilled water, so had to use deionised water instead, it's all I could find locally. Any chance you could do a video on re-spotting the centre of the mirror, please? That Meade one I mentioned earlier doesn't have one, making it a pain to re-collimate.

@AstroLaVista

2 жыл бұрын

Getting your hands on distilled water isn't as easy as it looks hey. I also had a quick scout around for some before settling on the RO water I use for my marine fish tank. How did de-ionised water do? did it leave the mirror streak free also? Yes, I could do a centre spotting vid at some point. I have a ground but not polished mirror I could use to demo this.

@MM0IMC

2 жыл бұрын

@@AstroLaVista it came up lovely!

Thanks for posting a useful variant of the standard method - I’ll eventually try this. Regarding the secondary mirror - not as critical perhaps, but what would your views be on using a Celestron Lens pen to clean off obvious debris or smudges? I’ve accidentally touched mine when adjusting the light shroud. Seems to work well enough on eyepieces but I’m cautious.

@AstroLaVista

2 жыл бұрын

Hi Andrew, you're welcome :) and you're right to be cautious. Lens pens are pretty good on the very hard eye lens coatings of eyepieces, but mirrors are a different beast. Mirror coatings are relatively soft by comparison and therefore should be bathed rather than rubbed. If it's just a finger print I'd be tempted to leave it as it wont effect the views, although I realise it will bug you that it's there. The mirror I cleaned here looked like frosted glass before I cleaned it. I was actually worried the mirror coatings had failed it looked that bad. I didn't expect to be cleaning it after just one year that's for sure.

@andrewldownie

2 жыл бұрын

@@AstroLaVista Thanks - confirmed my need to be cautious!

@andrewldownie

2 жыл бұрын

@@AstroLaVista Would you recommend removing and cleaning the secondary at any point beyond a fingerprint smudge ? - doable but I feel would require a higher level of surgical skill than the primary…

Wouldn't distilled water be somewhat caustic to the aluminum coating on the mirror?

@AstroLaVista

10 ай бұрын

Telescope mirrors are overcoated with Silicone Oxide

Great video! Thanks again! I have this same 'scope. Must admit, my blood pressure goes up(higher) when I watch mirror cleaning videos!😅👍🏻

@AstroLaVista

Жыл бұрын

Hey thanks for watching! haha yeah it's a nerve racking subject. Clear Skies!

I have one pice on there that I can't blow off how do I get rid of it without ripping my scope apart

@AstroLaVista

Жыл бұрын

I wouldn't bother cleaning a mirror for just one piece on there, it wont effect the views - this mirror was completely opaque and frosted over with tree sap before I decided to clean it. Once it's covered in all sorts of stuff in a couple of years time, then it's worth removing the 3 screws to remove the mirror for cleaning.

When you store them for prolonged time, plastic wrap, rubber band, and the cap do wonders.

@AstroLaVista

2 жыл бұрын

Hey Garnett, how are you? Yeah that's good advice. I've had a fair amount of use out of this scope, but when I got it out the other night the mirror looked completely frosted over. I'm guessing it was salts and junk out of the atmosphere building up with repeated dewing and drying out?

It's become clear to me that there is far less risk from fingers than there is from cotton. What's more, feeling the mirror tells you what is going to come off and what is just a defect.

12:22 and 12:40 you can see the mirror is damaged

@AstroLaVista

2 жыл бұрын

I can't see what you mean, what are you looking at exactly?

@dariuszszewczyk3106

2 жыл бұрын

Mirror got blure spots.will never touch mine with fingers or put any pressure on it.

@dariuszszewczyk3106

2 жыл бұрын

@@AstroLaVista fat from fingers.you will never remove this without damaging the mirror

You've touched on the mirror..and I'm sure it's damaged the coatings on the mirror The time , when you touched on the mirror was- 8:48

@AstroLaVista

2 жыл бұрын

I appreciate you're concern but with this technique you're supposed to touch the mirror, it's the touch technique. There is a strict routine you must follow with prepping your hands before it's safe to do so though. I can assure you that when I shone a torch through the back of the mirror to check the coatings before and after plus during the video nothing had changed other than the mirror was now clean :)

@chasemcniss2466

2 жыл бұрын

Just touching the dirty section of the mirror can potentially damage the coatings. When I clean mirrors I do not use tap water but but bottled distilled water. City water can have debris from old pipes and well water can have micro sand or gravel. Only use tap water if you have a filtration system. I have zero particulates in my water but still use distilled. Cannot recommend touching mirror with my fingers or even a surgeon's fingers.

😢