[pgc hunter]

Went out on June 2 to my site for some observing, and as it turns out I was treated to some excellent seeing. I have 2 new Delites, the 7 and 9mm. I used my 8" F/6 dob.

It took a bit of getting used to the adjustable eyecup, but after playing with it, it is a good feature and easy to use. The main issue was the real tight bottom caps, these took a bit of muster to get off, and at one point I think I even inadvertently unscrewed the barrel of the 9 Delite trying to get it off. I certainly did dislodge the adjustable eyecups in the process. Unfurling the rubber eyecup after taking the cap off resulted in the eyecup coming off, so had to re-attach it under dull red light, which was a bit awkward. Was a bit put off by all this, but as the night went on, I slowly got used to the nuances of these eyepieces, and I am sure I will get settled into a routine after more uses, just like with anything else new.

Now for the observing report. It took a bit of getting used to the eye position after being an LVW user for the better part of a decade. I found setting the bottom of the adjustable eye cup at the top of the lower hexagon symbol thing worked well.

I compared the following combinations on the moon, in excellent seeing after my 8" dob has been cooling for well over 2 hours.

9mm delite = 133x
7mm delite = 171x
22mm LVW + 2x Powermate = 136x

The 7mm threw up a beautiful, clear, neutral colour tone with jet black shadows. It was honestly like seeing Hi-def for the very first time. Amazing. The night side of the moon was clearly seen, despite the phase being gibbous on this night.

With the 9mm Delite, again the shadows were jet black with knife-edge contrast to the sunlit areas. The 22 LVW+2.5powermate provided almost the same magnification. The Delite provided a cooler, more neutral tone. Shadows seemed to be a tad richer black and crisper with higher contrast, the image seemed cleaner overall and very fine detail like tiny craters seemed to present easier in the Delite than the LVW combo. The limb of the darked side of the moon seemed to be presented in slightly higher contrast compared to the background sky in the Delite.

The 9 Delite just seemed to present a "HD" image compared to the LVW combo, contrast was fantastic, the neutral colour tone really gives that intense impression of contrast and very fine detail seemed more obvious. The light weight of the Delites was also a welcome relief, and it felt good not having to worry so much about balance.

I would prefer a bit more AFOV but the lightweight of these are a joy. I was using the crater Walther for comparisons as it has a number of tiny craterlets close to the edge of detection. There are 4 craterlets in a trapezium arrangement just north of Walther N. These are less than 2km across and were visible in both the 22LVW+2.5x combo and the 7 Delite, but the Delite was showing a tad crisper image with sharper contrast. The greys of the lunar surface were finer and more natural than in the LVW combo but what struck me most was the knife-edge contrast between the bright sunlit surface and the jet-black shadows and terminator. These boundaries were noticeably cleaner in the Delite. Ofcourse, comparing an 8 element eyepiece + 4 element Powermate to a single eyepiece isn't exactly fair, but it does make a case for less elements to maximise the lunar and planetary observing experience.

I'm really considering grabbing the short FL Delites, but on some nights even the 3mm is not short enough...