Cleaning your telescope’s delicate mirrors the wrong way is a sure way to damage them. But it’s not hard to use the right materials and get those mirrors clean.
Through the centuries, the telescope has gone through an incredible evolution to become the tool it is today. In the modern era, these miraculous inventions can be purchased from a variety of stores, making it easier than ever for folks to admire the cosmos from the Earth’s surface. But there’s a little bit of maintenance required to keep a telescope at its best, allowing users the best sight possible of the planet’s sky and beyond.
The biggest component of telescope care is storage, as it’s best to keep them in dry, climate-controlled areas. A telescope cap and cover are also wise investments to further protect it from the elements. Despite all of this, though, telescope mirrors — the pieces that collect light and produce a close-up, clear image of the distant sky — can accumulate dust and debris, requiring cleaning. And there are proper ways to clean mirrors, prolonging their life and continuing to produce clear, fascinating images.The regular mirror cleaning process isn’t too involved
Before taking your telescope apart to pull the mirror, or mirrors, out, it’s worth asking, do you really need to clean them? This is really only something to be done if your mirrors are so dirty that they’re obstructing your view. If this is the case, it shouldn’t take much to have them in pristine shape once again. All you need to gather are a working sink, liquid detergent, a couple of clean, dry microfiber towels — dollar store finds that could also save you money when working on your car — and distilled or demineralized water.
