Cleaning And Care Of Your Telescope - Omegon EQ-1 Mode D'emploi

5. Cleaning and care of your telescope

Your telescope should always remain protected with the dust caps before and after observing. The cap for the
front and the small cap for the focuser have a very important job. You should only remove both caps shortly
before you begin observing.
It can sometimes happen that dew forms on the optical surfaces during an observing session. Do not simply
wipe over the glass surfaces with a cloth to remove this dew. Bring the telescope into a warm area and let the
telescope dry without the caps in place. Only when the dew has completely disappeared can the covers be
reattached or observing proceed further.
Your telescope does not have to be cleaned particularly often. Light dust particles will not affect the optical
quality, whereas too frequent cleaning of optical surfaces will.
You can remove loose dust from optical surfaces using a bulb blower. This does not have to actually touch the
optical surfaces to work. Avoid touching mirror or lens surfaces with your bare hands. These optical surfaces
have been ground to a much higher precision than any window glass and are extremely sensitive.
As a rule, optical surfaces must usually only be cleaned every two years or so, or when a lot of pollen has been
deposited on them for example.
The best way to clean an eyepiece objective is to use isopropyl alcohol or a similar liquid. Moisten an
optical cloth and carefully wipe it over the lens, using as little pressure as possible. Never dismantle an eyepiece
however, only clean exterior lens surfaces.
The main mirror of a Newtonian telescope can be removed and cleaned separately. Sometimes it is sufficient
just to rinse the surface using a weak detergent solution without having to wipe the surface. The mirror should
then be rinsed with distilled water and left to dry naturally.
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