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I went out observing last night, and at some stage during the night I found myself viewing the carbon star near Beta Crucis. I was using my 8" dob. I decided to do a comparison between the 9mm Delite and the 22mm LVW +2.5x Powermate. The carbon star appeared slightly more vivid in the Delite, but the most striking difference was in the visibility of a faint star just north of Beta but well within its glare. This star was visible about 80% of the time flickering in and out of the seeing in the LVW+Powermate combo, but, in the 9mm Delite, it was distinctly easier to see and held it vision 100% of the time. The 9mm Delite offers 133x, while the LVW+Powermate 136x, so identical for all practical purposes.
Now, I've been observing for years using LVWs in the Powermate for high power views. It appears I've been ripping myself off. The combo results in 12 lens elements, a fact I've never considered. That is not good enough, and from this obs, I saw first hand how much the extra glass restricts light throughput. My eyes have been opened.
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