Cleaning and Care of Baader Planetarium AstroSolar™ Material
We strongly recommend that you store your filter in a tight enclosure (such as a Tupperware orRubbermaid box), with a little desiccant bag added. It will prolong the life of your filter considerably if you
give it the same careful treatment that you would for an expensive Zeiss-SolarGlass-filter or other very
expensive piece of solar equipment. Similarly, protect any unused filter material so that it is in newcondition when you need it.
Fingerprints on a metallized surface are to be avoided under all circumstances. They have the sameconsequence on AstroSolar™ Film as putting fingerprints onto a telescope mirror. Since yourAstroSolar™ filter will be open to dirt and dust, the coating may require gentle “dusting” after extended
exposure. If the dust is loose, you may be able to blow it off with compressed air or an air bulb, bothavailable in camera stores. Hopefully, this air dusting is all that your filter will ever require.
Although we don’t really advocate more aggressive cleaning, the coating on AstroSolar™ Film is harderthan regular aluminum coatings applied on mirror surfaces. It can be cleaned with Baader Optical
Wonder™ Cleaning Fluid (part of the Astro-Physics Optical Cleaning System – OPTCS, see note below)
or a solution of mild dish soap and distilled water. Use our Lint-Free Professional Optical CleaningWipes (see note below) or obtain sterilized cotton wool (as used for eye application), available inpharmacies. Normal cotton wool as used for cosmetic purposes should NOT be used!
Use careful, gentle strokes. For each stroke, a new, clean portion of the Lint-Free Wipe or the cotton is to
be used - wetted with the Optical Wonder™ or home-made cleaning solution. This helps to avoid
scratches in the metal surface due to dust grains already picked up by the wipe or the cotton.
Of course, any such cleaning operation is still a threat to the optical coating - be it a telescope mirror orAstroSolar™ Safety Film. The important difference is that a damaged mirror won’t harm your eyes –damage to any type of solar filter can cause irreversible eye injury. Check the cleaning result by holding
the cleaned filter up to the Sun. If scratches or pinholes show up, exceeding a combined uncoated area of
4 square mm, the film is regarded as unsafe and must be destroyed. No single pinhole should exceed
0.5 mm in diameter. Tiny pinholes can be covered with a black felt-tip marker. We recommend using themarker on the inside surface of the film in order to preserve the esthetic appearance of your filter.
Be sure to check the integrity of the filter cell as well, especially if you have a home made filter cell. If indoubt, replace the filter! After all, AstroSolar™ Film is priced so affordably that purchasing a new pieceof film every few years or so is relatively painless. If you have the feeling that the performance of yoursolar filter has suffered over the years, and that the above cleaning procedure hasn’t restored theperformance, then we suggest that you use a new piece of film and have a fresh and clean solar filter.
We are pleased to offer this diffraction-limited film product at a reasonable price. Remember: if the filter
becomes very dirty or is damaged in any way, we encourage you to replace it, rather than risk yourprecious eyesight.
NOTE: Several years ago, we offered Astro-Physics Optical Cleaning System (part # OPTCS), which
included the Baader Optical Wonder™ Cleaning Fluid and lint-free wipes. Unfortunately, we are no longer
able to offer this cleaning kit because of regulations related to the shipping of flammable liquids from
Germany to the U.S. We refer to them in these instructions because some people may still have some touse.
05-11-12
Astro-Physics, Inc.
11250 Forest Hills Road, Machesney Park, IL 61115, U.S.A.
Phone: 815-282-1513 Fax: 815-282-9847
www.astro-physics.com