Improve the Performance of Your Dobsonian | High Point Scientific 

Most of the time you dont have to worry about it. However, if there is so much dust on the mirror that reflectivity is reduced by a fair amount when shining a flashlight at it, its time for cleaning. There are videos on how to do this here on youtube. Youll need at least 3-4 liters of distilled water, 50-100 cotton balls, a tiny bit of normal dish soap and if possible a dust blower (those bulb shaped rubber things). Here is what i do: (Make sure to definitely use distilled water!!) 1. The most important step: Rinse the mirror with distilled water so that any hard particles are washed off BEFORE cleaning. You could end up scratching the mirror if you dont do this. 2. Plug your sink, put a small towel on the bottom of your sink and carefully put your mirror (either with or without the cell, doesnt matter) on the towel. Submerge it in distilled water just enough that there is 1-2mm of water on the mirror. Let it soak in the water for 1-2 minutes to soften up any debris so it doesnt scratch your mirror. 3. Put 1-2 drops of dish soap on the mirror, take a cotton ball and start dragging it in a straight line across the mirror WITHOUT ANY PRESSURE AT ALL. Use 1 cotton ball per stroke. Always do straight lines and never use a cotton ball twice. 4. Once you did this to the whole mirror once, drain the water, rinse the mirror and put new water in. Repeat this process until the mirror is clean. Once done, drain the water and rinse the mirror a final time. 5. Take your dust blower and very carefully blow away any remaining water withouth ever touching the mirror surface. If you how have a blower and cant get one, rinse with small amounts of distilled water so the droplets are carried away from the water stream. Ideally you dont want any droplets dry on your mirror because even when using distilled water there will be white spots. 6. Carefully put mirror back into the tube and start collimating. Dont be scared of cleaning your mirrors, just be careful and treat it like you would a newborn. Clear skies!

Hi Martillo, Yes! They are "stronger" meaning collimation will shift less as you move the scope from target to target. In addition to this, collimation will last longer as your view through the night and will not need to be adjusted as often.

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