Hi Doug, for you and your viewers never touch the brush or anything that will touch the mirrors or glass as everyone's has oil on their skin, that gets transferred from the brush to the glass or mirrors. Also don't try to blow with your mouth to remove dust as it will be spit...LOL ask me how I know?
Hi WMM!! Thanks for stopping by and commenting with a great tip!! lol I may or may not have first-hand experience with blowing spit on a lens!! Pleasing the 5th 😂 Cheers! Doug
Great video, Doug! I just cleaned my filters a couple weeks ago. No more dust motes for a while, I hope. But, I wish I'd seen this video before I started. There are some great tips here!
Hi Doug, if I may offer some advice which has helped my cleaning sessions. Before I touch anything like the brush tips and cloths for cleaning I find it useful to put some surgical gloves on as to avoid transferring oil and grease from my fingers onto said items. All the best mate!
Hi KTD!! Thanks for stopping by and commenting with a great tip!! Yeah, i was lazy, I have a pack of surgical gloves in my kit.. What's one of the first things I do? Touch a filter LOL! Cheers! Doug
@@Naztronomy Thanks Naz!! Yeah that makeup brush does a really nice job of pre-cleaning. Many times there’s nothing else needed to do after bulb blowing and brushing. Cheers! Doug
@@thecampingastronomer8554 thanks for watching and commenting!! No worries on the finger print! It’ll clean up real easy with solution and a pec pad. Cheers! Doug
Good tips. I see one donut mote in my flats for my C8. I need to clean my image train. Are motes in flats due to dust in the image train or can it be dust on the corrector plate or the primary mirror. Did you ever do a cleaning video for your C8? Thanks.
@@KJRitch Hi KJ! Motes can generally be anywhere but you probably won’t see them in your images if on corrector or mirror unless they are really bad. You can kind of tell where the motes are by size. If they are very small dots then those will usually be on your sensor or sensor window. If they are small donuts then probably on one side or other of your filter. If larger donut then probably on your reducer. On my HD I’ve got the built in baffle lens and if it gets dust it will be a huge donut. So basically the further from the sensor the larger the mote donut. Cheers! Doug
Hi Doug, great video and thank you for the tips. One thing I noticed and have never seen before is the ring on your guide camera? Where can I find one of those? Clear skies!
@@Diocrew Hey! Thanks for watching and your comment! Those parfocal rings are really nice to have. I’ve put an affiliate link in the video description (hope you don’t mind). You can just search “Astromania 1.25" Telescope Eyepiece Parfocal Rings” on Amazon if you’d prefer not to use my link. Cheers! Doug
@@robertarmstrong9406 Hi Robert! Thanks for watching and commenting! I leave my entire rig setup and ready nearly 365 days a year. Cover it with a Telegizoms365 and hang two 500g desiccant bags inside the cover to absorb moisture from the air. In the winter I have a retractable dome tent I call the “AFO” that I use for additional cover to keep snow accumulation off and around the scope. I think I have a video on it. I can go out and pull back the dome and uncover the scope in about 30 seconds. It takes about 1 minute to cover. Works great and makes it easy to get sessions going each night. Also minimizes time out with mosquitoes or cold. Cheers! Doug
@@AstroAF Thank you. I live in Tucson. Those 100 plus days I'll bring it in. But most of the rest of the year, be nice to leave it out. I have the Askar140. It is heavy, so the less I move it the better for me.
@ oh nice, yeah with heat consistently over 100° for those times it is probably best. The TG365 cover has in-build heat deflection, it stays markedly cooler under the cover. Still, it can get quite warm. It has been one of the most important pieces of gear I’ve invested in.
Hi Doug, for you and your viewers never touch the brush or anything that will touch the mirrors or glass as everyone's has oil on their skin, that gets transferred from the brush to the glass or mirrors. Also don't try to blow with your mouth to remove dust as it will be spit...LOL ask me how I know?
Hi WMM!! Thanks for stopping by and commenting with a great tip!!
lol I may or may not have first-hand experience with blowing spit on a lens!! Pleasing the 5th 😂
Cheers!
Doug
Great video, Doug! I just cleaned my filters a couple weeks ago. No more dust motes for a while, I hope. But, I wish I'd seen this video before I started. There are some great tips here!
@@deepskydetail Thanks Mark! Appreciate you taking time to watch and leave a comment!!
Cheers!
Doug
Super helpful info! Thanks Doug!
Thanks Lance! Glad you found this helpful!! Appreciate you stopping by and commenting!
Cheers!
Doug
Hi Doug, if I may offer some advice which has helped my cleaning sessions. Before I touch anything like the brush tips and cloths for cleaning I find it useful to put some surgical gloves on as to avoid transferring oil and grease from my fingers onto said items. All the best mate!
Hi KTD!! Thanks for stopping by and commenting with a great tip!! Yeah, i was lazy, I have a pack of surgical gloves in my kit.. What's one of the first things I do? Touch a filter LOL!
Cheers!
Doug
@ I thought I may of been teaching an intelligent man how to suck eggs there but you never know lol
@@KingTubbyDub Nah, it’s a great callout! I agree 💯 recommend using surgical gloves too!
Very nice tips, Doug! I like the makeup brush idea.
@@Naztronomy Thanks Naz!! Yeah that makeup brush does a really nice job of pre-cleaning. Many times there’s nothing else needed to do after bulb blowing and brushing.
Cheers!
Doug
Great tips here Doug. I have managed to accidentally touch one of my filters, which I still need to sort 😢
@@thecampingastronomer8554 thanks for watching and commenting!! No worries on the finger print! It’ll clean up real easy with solution and a pec pad.
Cheers!
Doug
Good tips. I see one donut mote in my flats for my C8. I need to clean my image train. Are motes in flats due to dust in the image train or can it be dust on the corrector plate or the primary mirror. Did you ever do a cleaning video for your C8? Thanks.
@@KJRitch Hi KJ! Motes can generally be anywhere but you probably won’t see them in your images if on corrector or mirror unless they are really bad. You can kind of tell where the motes are by size. If they are very small dots then those will usually be on your sensor or sensor window. If they are small donuts then probably on one side or other of your filter. If larger donut then probably on your reducer. On my HD I’ve got the built in baffle lens and if it gets dust it will be a huge donut. So basically the further from the sensor the larger the mote donut.
Cheers!
Doug
Hi Doug, great video and thank you for the tips. One thing I noticed and have never seen before is the ring on your guide camera? Where can I find one of those? Clear skies!
@@Diocrew Hey! Thanks for watching and your comment! Those parfocal rings are really nice to have. I’ve put an affiliate link in the video description (hope you don’t mind). You can just search “Astromania 1.25" Telescope Eyepiece Parfocal Rings” on Amazon if you’d prefer not to use my link.
Cheers!
Doug
Well done, Thank you. You said you leave you scope out most of the year. Do you take the camera inside or leave it on the scope?
@@robertarmstrong9406 Hi Robert! Thanks for watching and commenting! I leave my entire rig setup and ready nearly 365 days a year. Cover it with a Telegizoms365 and hang two 500g desiccant bags inside the cover to absorb moisture from the air. In the winter I have a retractable dome tent I call the “AFO” that I use for additional cover to keep snow accumulation off and around the scope. I think I have a video on it. I can go out and pull back the dome and uncover the scope in about 30 seconds. It takes about 1 minute to cover. Works great and makes it easy to get sessions going each night. Also minimizes time out with mosquitoes or cold.
Cheers!
Doug
@@AstroAF Thank you. I live in Tucson. Those 100 plus days I'll bring it in. But most of the rest of the year, be nice to leave it out. I have the Askar140. It is heavy, so the less I move it the better for me.
@ oh nice, yeah with heat consistently over 100° for those times it is probably best. The TG365 cover has in-build heat deflection, it stays markedly cooler under the cover. Still, it can get quite warm. It has been one of the most important pieces of gear I’ve invested in.