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Care & Cleaning tips
The advice we always give when someone asks how they should clean their eyepieces is... Don't!. But if you absolutely MUST clean an eyepiece, you should USE EXTREME CARE.
Ever see someone use a shirt-tail to wipe the lenses of their eyeglasses, binoculars or WalMart camera? Well, some folks do that to their eyepieces, and we cringe when we see it. Egads! If you could imagine what goes on (microscopically) when you use a cloth such as a shirt-tail to clean or wipe the glass of an eyepiece, you would likely never do it. Even when you use a supposedly "soft and clean" cloth, you are essentially grinding the lens-coatings with rocks and bolders.
There are procedures you can follow to clean your eyepieces safely. The one we prefer utilizes Dawn dish detergent, and sterile cotton balls and swabs.
* Add 2 drops of Dawn dish detergent (unscented plain original - it's BLUE!) to a quart of distilled water. Mix the two thoroughly.
* Soak a sterile cotton ball or swab with the solution; wipe the glass GENTLY in circular motions.
* Flush with liberal amounts of distilled water.
* Dry by wiping GENTLY with cotton balls or swabs.
* Gently "buff" with Klenex "Softique" non-scented tisue.
NOTE: clean your filters the same way.
I spent this evening doing some hardcore stargazing. Around 11pm, I went outside, and spent the next hour and a half viewing:
The advice we always give when someone asks how they should clean their eyepieces is... Don't!. But if you absolutely MUST clean an eyepiece, you should USE EXTREME CARE.
Ever see someone use a shirt-tail to wipe the lenses of their eyeglasses, binoculars or WalMart camera? Well, some folks do that to their eyepieces, and we cringe when we see it. Egads! If you could imagine what goes on (microscopically) when you use a cloth such as a shirt-tail to clean or wipe the glass of an eyepiece, you would likely never do it. Even when you use a supposedly "soft and clean" cloth, you are essentially grinding the lens-coatings with rocks and bolders.
There are procedures you can follow to clean your eyepieces safely. The one we prefer utilizes Dawn dish detergent, and sterile cotton balls and swabs.
* Add 2 drops of Dawn dish detergent (unscented plain original - it's BLUE!) to a quart of distilled water. Mix the two thoroughly.
* Soak a sterile cotton ball or swab with the solution; wipe the glass GENTLY in circular motions.
* Flush with liberal amounts of distilled water.
* Dry by wiping GENTLY with cotton balls or swabs.
* Gently "buff" with Klenex "Softique" non-scented tisue.
NOTE: clean your filters the same way.
I spent this evening doing some hardcore stargazing. Around 11pm, I went outside, and spent the next hour and a half viewing:
- Globular Cluster M2 in Aquarius,
- Globular Cluster M15 in Pegasus,
- Star Auriga (α Aquilae) in Aquila,
- Open Cluster Melotte 20 ("The Alpha Persei Moving Cluster") and Star Mirphak (α Persei) in Perseus.
- Diffuse Nebula M42 in Orion ("The Orion Nebula"),
- Open Cluster M45 in Taurus ("Pleiades"),
- Star Sirius (α Canis Majoris) in Canis Major,
- Open Cluster Melotte 25 ("The Hyades") and Aldebaran (α Tauri) in Constellation Taurus (in same field of view),
- Planet Saturn, just below the Constellation Gemini,
- Planet Venus, just below the Planet Saturn.
