I keep debating on whether or not I want to attempt cleaning my 8" SCT. I have had the scope for a little over two years ago. So, below is the story of how I got the scope, and where I'm at now with cleaning.
When I abandoned this page and had my own domain name for Adirondack Astronomy I had posted about the scope there, but when I cancelled my domain page I didn't transfer all those posts over to this blog, so there is a huge multi-year gap on this blog. I regret not making that transfer, but it's a bit late now. So, since I don't have that on here, here is some backstory on the 8" SCT.
I was browsing Facebook for telescopes for sale. Something I do semi-regularly, but usually never buy anything because either the telescope I'm looking at is too high in price, too far away, or it's a telescope I could pick up at Walmart and regret purchasing. So, one day in February of 2017 I'm browsing and I come across a Celestron 8" Schmidt Cassegrain telescope on a weird funky mount (image above). I saw the person was only asking for $250 for the telescope and the mount. The first thought in my head is that there must be something wrong with it. I messaged the seller on my lunch break at work, and he got back to me that the telescope was still for sale. I asked if it was fine if I come over after work to have a look, and he said that was perfectly fine. Not knowing anything about the telescope and it's optics I still took the money out of the bank just in case it was something I couldn't pass up when I saw it.
I got to the guys house and he tells me that he has had the telescope since the 1990's that he purchased it to use with his daughter because they both had an interest in astronomy, and viewing the night sky. He said over the last few years it hasn't been used at all because his daughter was away at school, and that it was just taking up space in his small apartment. As he's telling me the backstory on the telescope I had the dust cover off and I'm inspecting the corrector plate, mirror, diagonal, the eyepiece that he had in it. Everything seemed to look okay aside from a bit dusty which you can see on the mount in the picture above. I told him that I will gladly take it off of his hands as I handed him the money for the telescope. He wasn't sure if the mount worked which was completely fine by me because I was just going to put it on my CG5 mount anyway.
I got the telescope home and started looking it up. Found out that the Celestron I had just purchased most closely matched the Celestron Celestar telescope. It also follows around the time period the guy said he purchased it. The first couple uses of the telescope I used it on the mount it came with, but it was wobbly, the motor drive didn't work, and I found it to be a bit of a pain to use by hand. I only used it maybe 2 or 3 times like that for Venus and the Moon, and a quick view of the Orion Nebula. That was while I was waiting for the dovetail bar to come in so I could mount it on my CG5 mount.
After I got it on my CG5 mount the telescope has remained outside covered in a Telegizmo 365 All-Weather Cover that I purchased at my first NEAF that I've ever attended. I had been wanting to get one of these covers when I had my 6" Newtonian attached to the mount, but now that I had a larger telescope I'm glad I didn't get a small cover for the Newtonian.
So, for two years now the telescope has been outside under this cover, only to be uncovered while when I was using it. The dust cover was always on, and the 365 cover was also always on. It has been out in all the elements; heavy rain, heavy snow, heavy wind, ice, ya know, the typical weather you can expect in Northern New York.
Now onto my contemplation of whether or not I should clean the telescope. Below are some images that I took recently. I brought the telescope inside because I planned on cleaning it all. I cleaned my Newtonian once and it was relatively easy so I figured this wouldn't be too difficult. I started looking into how to clean an SCT and needless to say I got a bit scared, and I decided not to. All the shims and correct orientation involved in removing and reattaching the corrector plate scared me away. I know a telescope can be quite dusty before you start noticing a decrease in observation quality, but it isn't the dust that I want to clean off, it's the smudges I'm seeing on the corrector plate that make me wonder if cleaning it would beneficial to getting better views.
When I abandoned this page and had my own domain name for Adirondack Astronomy I had posted about the scope there, but when I cancelled my domain page I didn't transfer all those posts over to this blog, so there is a huge multi-year gap on this blog. I regret not making that transfer, but it's a bit late now. So, since I don't have that on here, here is some backstory on the 8" SCT.
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| Celestron Celestar 8" SCT |
I was browsing Facebook for telescopes for sale. Something I do semi-regularly, but usually never buy anything because either the telescope I'm looking at is too high in price, too far away, or it's a telescope I could pick up at Walmart and regret purchasing. So, one day in February of 2017 I'm browsing and I come across a Celestron 8" Schmidt Cassegrain telescope on a weird funky mount (image above). I saw the person was only asking for $250 for the telescope and the mount. The first thought in my head is that there must be something wrong with it. I messaged the seller on my lunch break at work, and he got back to me that the telescope was still for sale. I asked if it was fine if I come over after work to have a look, and he said that was perfectly fine. Not knowing anything about the telescope and it's optics I still took the money out of the bank just in case it was something I couldn't pass up when I saw it.
I got to the guys house and he tells me that he has had the telescope since the 1990's that he purchased it to use with his daughter because they both had an interest in astronomy, and viewing the night sky. He said over the last few years it hasn't been used at all because his daughter was away at school, and that it was just taking up space in his small apartment. As he's telling me the backstory on the telescope I had the dust cover off and I'm inspecting the corrector plate, mirror, diagonal, the eyepiece that he had in it. Everything seemed to look okay aside from a bit dusty which you can see on the mount in the picture above. I told him that I will gladly take it off of his hands as I handed him the money for the telescope. He wasn't sure if the mount worked which was completely fine by me because I was just going to put it on my CG5 mount anyway.
I got the telescope home and started looking it up. Found out that the Celestron I had just purchased most closely matched the Celestron Celestar telescope. It also follows around the time period the guy said he purchased it. The first couple uses of the telescope I used it on the mount it came with, but it was wobbly, the motor drive didn't work, and I found it to be a bit of a pain to use by hand. I only used it maybe 2 or 3 times like that for Venus and the Moon, and a quick view of the Orion Nebula. That was while I was waiting for the dovetail bar to come in so I could mount it on my CG5 mount.
After I got it on my CG5 mount the telescope has remained outside covered in a Telegizmo 365 All-Weather Cover that I purchased at my first NEAF that I've ever attended. I had been wanting to get one of these covers when I had my 6" Newtonian attached to the mount, but now that I had a larger telescope I'm glad I didn't get a small cover for the Newtonian.
So, for two years now the telescope has been outside under this cover, only to be uncovered while when I was using it. The dust cover was always on, and the 365 cover was also always on. It has been out in all the elements; heavy rain, heavy snow, heavy wind, ice, ya know, the typical weather you can expect in Northern New York.
Now onto my contemplation of whether or not I should clean the telescope. Below are some images that I took recently. I brought the telescope inside because I planned on cleaning it all. I cleaned my Newtonian once and it was relatively easy so I figured this wouldn't be too difficult. I started looking into how to clean an SCT and needless to say I got a bit scared, and I decided not to. All the shims and correct orientation involved in removing and reattaching the corrector plate scared me away. I know a telescope can be quite dusty before you start noticing a decrease in observation quality, but it isn't the dust that I want to clean off, it's the smudges I'm seeing on the corrector plate that make me wonder if cleaning it would beneficial to getting better views.
In the second picture above you can see the smudges that I'm talking about near the edge of the corrector plate. As I said, I know that light will make it look dustier and make you feel like it needs to be cleaned, but I'm sure this amount of dust is okay. The smudge that is visible is on the inside of the corrector plate so I can't just clean the outside of it's dust and be done with it. I'd have to remove the corrector in order to take care of the smudge.
I'm not quite sure what this gunky build up is along the edge, but it's not affecting my viewing so I'm not overly concerned with that. Should I be? I don't know.
The second image here showing the mirror shows that if I did take apart my telescope I don't think I'd have to worry about removing or cleaning the primary mirror as it looks practically brand new. I'm also assuming that this shows I don't need to worry about sending my telescope out for a recoating as the mirror looks nearly spotless.
I keep going back and forth on whether or not I should take the plunge and attempt to clean the corrector, or if I should just let it be because cleaning it isn't going to make much of a difference as far as visual observing, or astrophotography is concerned. Like I said, it was like this even when I bought it and I've been using it in this state for the past 2 years, but curious if I might gain something by cleaning, or if I'll be going through a bunch of trouble for no noticeable difference.
If you read this and have any insight, comments, or ideas please let me know in the comments!
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