I have a question for all of you.
I run my scopes in a high dust environment. Usually, I change out scopes every couple of months. I’ve been running my 8”RC hard for 6 months. It is time for a cleaning? A light dusting of the primary mirror, general cleaning, take out all of the filters from the filter wheel, clean the camera, clean the guide scope, …. Doing so will mean collimating again, new darks, biases, …. How often do all of you do a “Spring cleaning?”
What does that look like?
David
Really depends on exposure time and the environment. If you’re not seeing a lot of dust motes in your subs then I’d leave that part sealed up. It’s hard to advise you on the rest as we all have different tolerances for that sort of thing. It also depends on what you’re doing. If contrast is super important as in solar and planetary imaging you’ll have to be a lot less accepting of dust and dirt than if you’re wide field DSO imaging. As a data point, for my stuff in Oklahoma I usually go about a year before looking at it. That or if I see a sudden gathering of dust motes on my images.
Agree with Tony on the inside. It should be sealed up and not be letting dust in. If you are seeing a build-up of dust on the filters or chamber window, consider using tape to better seal the joints between the OAG, FW, camera, etc.
I don’t get any meaningful build-up inside my image trains. So the only time I clean there is if I must take things apart for some other reason.
As for the objective or mirrors; it depends on how much is accumulating. I do mine about once a year at the observatories. But in a high dust area maybe a few times per year?
Kevin
Because I mainly use my RC8 for galaxies, I usually clean my RC8 main mirror once a year, at least a month before galaxy season giving me plenty of time to get it dialed back in. Same for my Newtonian, except at least a month prior to when I plan to start imagining larger nebula, etc. I cover my scope each morning after an imaging session, but Pollen build up is a big problem in my area in mid Spring. Those inexpensive plastic shower caps stretched across the front of the scope are cheap insurance.
To keep the imaging train on my mono cameras as unexposed as possible, I use a dark filter in one of my slots and set my sequence to switch to the dark filter after each imaging session.
It really depends on many variables. For instance, after an unexpected dust storm blowing in from Africa.
Kevin Morefield · Jul 16, 2026 at 01:13 AM
Agree with Tony on the inside. It should be sealed up and not be letting dust in. If you are seeing a build-up of dust on the filters or chamber window, consider using tape to better seal the joints between the OAG, FW, camera, etc.
I don’t get any meaningful build-up inside my image trains. So the only time I clean there is if I must take things apart for some other reason.
As for the objective or mirrors; it depends on how much is accumulating. I do mine about once a year at the observatories. But in a high dust area maybe a few times per year?
Kevin
My scope goes to a CAA, then filter wheel, then directly to my camera. West Texas, with dust is just a harsh environment. I like the idea of some electrical tape around the joints. Probably, in another month, I’ll switch back to my RedCat71 and will look at a good cleaning at that point. I’ll likely settle into an every 6 month cleaning cycle.
Don Norwood · Jul 16, 2026 at 02:38 AM
Because I mainly use my RC8 for galaxies, I usually clean my RC8 main mirror once a year, at least a month before galaxy season giving me plenty of time to get it dialed back in. Same for my Newtonian, except at least a month prior to when I plan to start imagining larger nebula, etc. I cover my scope each morning after an imaging session, but Pollen build up is a big problem in my area in mid Spring. Those inexpensive plastic shower caps stretched across the front of the scope are cheap insurance.
To keep the imaging train on my mono cameras as unexposed as possible, I use a dark filter in one of my slots and set my sequence to switch to the dark filter after each imaging session.
It really depends on many variables. For instance, after an unexpected dust storm blowing in from Africa.
That sounds like a great plan!