From: someone@anywheret.net   
      
   "JimD"  wrote in message news:2016102522003444636-email@nowherecom...   
      
   > I have a piece of very odd material that came with a screen cover for an   
   > iPad.  Used that yesterday.  The small scratch came from something   
   > earlier.  Not a biggie.  I plan on taking the mirror out and running it   
   > under some warm water tomorrow, just to see what that does.  There seems   
   > to be a barely visible oily something on the thing. It's only visible at   
   > certain angles, and will smudge around or clear if wiped.   
      
   You can always mix some dish detergent and water in a spray bottle and spray   
   it off.   
      
   > Ah, but no more wiping... as in ... no more tiny scratches. Warm water and   
   > compressed air is the ticket at this point :-)   
      
   The compressed air part sounds risky, better to dab it dry very   
   gently...because compressed air isn't very gentle ;)   
      
   Just remember the extremely tiny progressively smaller sized grit numbers of   
   silicon carbide, better known as carborundum granules used to grind the   
   mirror to its basic optical configuration, then the even smaller particles   
   used for polishing and figuring - having one of those particles,   
   particularly one  of the larger grades blasted by compressed air against the   
   mirror isn't a very pleasant thought ;)   
      
   > So delicate these things are.   
      
   When their optical surface smoothness is measured against the nanometer   
   wavelengths of visible light, Absolutely!!!   
      
   > Yep. It's very close to right, but I'll turn all the adjustment screws   
   > anyway, just to be sure :-)   
      
   "Eyeing it in" is the usual way ;) But there are laser collimators...very   
   cool and needless to say, much more accurate ;)   
      
   > it's getting cold fast.  so maybe I'll get some time to use this, or maybe   
   > it'll have to wait until next year.   
      
   Like January? ;) I enjoy observing but hate freezing ;)   
      
   > Cookies sound good :-)  And, it sounds like you have some happy memories.   
      
   Yep, I called them 'observing cookies' ;) But beholding the night sky using   
   celestial coordinates and a nice scope to do it with was a lot of fun too ;)   
   I'd be up for it again if I could get something set up to do it.   
      
   > I use the Celestron star finding app in an iPad.  It's useful for working   
   > out whats where and when.  Shows the position of things in real time.   
      
   There's all kinds of software out there...but I used to use a plain old   
   planisphere style moveable star map to get started - just set the date and   
   time by rotating the center portion, hold it over your head with the   
   directions properly aligned, and get a quick idea of what to look for...very   
   low tech and still works great.   
      
   > It's pretty cold out now, 9:55 pm.  No big thick clouds, but odd sky just   
   > the same. It's like there is some overcast. I can see a few bright stars   
   > with the naked eye, but as tho thru a thin layer of clouds. Yes,   
   > AccuWeather shows a thin layer of clouds over me, and most of the rest of   
   > the state.  Not totally blocking, but enough that I'm not gonna go out and   
   > sit in the cold. It's 41F now, headed to 35 overnight. Burrr :-)   
      
   Jim   
      
   Like I said, I HATE cold  weather...at least something to observe mitigates   
   it..a little ;)   
      
   Ouisie   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)