VITAL STATS
• • Price Focal length
• • • £229 each
7mm, 11mm and 18.2mm Apparent FOV 62° Eye relief 20mm Field stop 7.5mm (7mm eyepiece); 1.1mm (11mm); 19.1mm (18.2mm) Barrel size 1.25-inch Extras Rubber eyecup, extendable eye guard (both built-in) Weight 0.20-0.22kg Supplier Telescope House www.telescopehouse. com Tel 01342 837098
If you’re into visual observing, then the quality of eyepiece you use is an important issue. Optical quality can make or break an observation, but your comfort is also very important. If you’re squinting down a narrow viewing cone, this can become stressful and prevent you from seeing what you’re looking for.
The DeLite eyepiece series from Tele Vue delivers an optically excellent view together with the option to physically adjust the distance of your eye from the eye lens, whether you wear glasses or not. This makes it really easy to place your eye at the correct ‘eye relief ’ to get the best view possible. The eye relief is the distance your eye must sit from the outer optical face of the eye lens in order to get the intended full angle field of view. Any closer or further from the lens surface and the view becomes more restricted.
The range includes eyepieces with focal lengths of 7mm, 11mm and 18.2mm. Each has the same 62° field of view, which we were able to verify by timing how long it took for a star to drift across each eyepiece’s field with our mount’s right ascension drive turned off. Stars looked sharp through the DeLites and showed little or no false colour; a small flash of blue was seen in
the 18.2mm, but only at the extreme edge of the field and only with a very bright star in view.
The view of the Moon was exquisite. Intricate details visible along the terminator were sharp and full of detail. Our views of the craters Hevelius and Grimaldi were quite amazing. The high contrast delivered by the 18.2mm eyepiece was superb, but our favourite view was through the 7mm. The inky dark of the lunar night, contrasting with the bright lunar highlands at high magnification, just kept inviting us to keep exploring.
An unforgiving test
Stars are unforgiving test subjects. Their pin-point light will cause any optical aberrations to stand out like a sore thumb, especially at the edge of frame, and our test 4-inch apochromatic refractor had excellent optics – leaving the DeLite eyepieces nowhere to hide. Fortunately, they delivered in spades and the quality of the view was first class.
The 18.2mm eyepiece showed us a large swathe of the Andromeda Galaxy and – with excellent contrast – the dark dust lane truncating one side of the galaxy’s core was very clear. Satellite galaxy M32 was an easy spot and dimmer M110 quite straightforward to see too. The 11mm gave the best view, bringing us closer in while maintaining contrast. The DeLite eyepieces deliver a fantastic image, free from aberration and very crisp – exactly what a good eyepiece should do. The 62° multicoated field of view is superb and, placing your eye at the correct eye relief distance of 20mm ensures you get all of that view, just as intended. We really appreciated the extending and lockable eye guard that provides an accurate and repeatable way to do this without fuss.
The lockable eyeguard and 20mm eye relief means that the DeLites are perfect for those who swap between wearing spectacles too. Their