Our main mirror needed a cleaning before installation. This is what one does with water. For this purpose we lined the transport box, dissolved dishwashing detergent without additives and filled the pool with water. When filling up, one can cover the mirror with a powerful jet. After two hours the water was drained and the mirror was rinsed with distilled water. We then performed the whole procedure again. A faint residual gray haze can only be removed with a wet cotton ball without pressure. However, this should not be done, because such a process damages the unprotected aluminum surface and cancels the reflection gain. Apparently, the mirror does not currently need a new coating and can be installed.
1 comment
You may also like
Public spectroscopy forum
We not only want to take beautiful photos but also do astrophysics. This is done by physically analysing light using spectrographs. We offer an open spectroscopy forum for those who are interested in astrospectroscopy...
7. March 2024
Spectacular discovery
We have been observing the weather at the observatory for a few weeks now and were completely surprised to discover that there are long periods of rain. After intensive discussions, we came to a clear conclusion:...
26. February 2024
Cooperation with the University of Siegen
Prof Dr Oliver Schwarz and Dr Ina Stricker from the ‘Didactics of Physics’ department and Bastian Thelen from the Oberberg Education Office visited the school observatory to develop an educational concept...
24. January 2024
well done!