In preparation for the eclipse (Wed., July 22, 2009), I cleaned my telescope just to make sure any imaging (solar or not) would not be spoiled by the fungus growth. I bought a gallon of distilled water for this delicate process.
its cleaning time!
I had a basin filled with tap water, about 1.5 inches deep with about two tablespoons of liquid/dishwashing detergent. I removed the mirror from the base:
base without mirror
and then placed the mirror in the basin, moving the mirror around (sideways, circular, back and forth, swishing etc….)
swoosh!
and after that I rinsed the mirror, first with some tap water and then with distilled water.
clean!
the mirror was then air dried (covered with some plastic basin to minimize dust settling while drying) and then re-attached to the base and scope! voila! (I also did the same steps with the telescope diagonal).
ok!