Sky and Telescope - September 2015 - 65

The hefty
weight of the
unit requires a
sturdy mount.
The author used
a Universal
Astronomics
MacroStar head,
which held the
view steady even
at high magniﬁcations.

Examining the ﬁeld with the 11-mm DeLites, coma
noted in the 20-mm SWA eyepieces was limited to just
the very edge of ﬁeld, perhaps due to the eyepieces'
increased magniﬁcation and 62° apparent ﬁeld. This let
me enjoy observing the Moon and Jupiter almost to the
edge of the ﬁeld before having to re-center them.
While the views were enjoyable through most any
eyepieces I used with the Lunt 100s, there is a practical
limit to their versatility. The company claims that you
can observe with these at over 100×, but there are some
hurdles to overcome when using such high magniﬁcations, as these would require eyepieces of 5-mm or
shorter. Targets at 100× would need to be re-centered
very frequently. Finally, such high magniﬁcations are
more likely to reveal any optical aberrations and misalignment that just aren't visible at the image scale you'd
commonly use with binoculars.
I found the Lunt 100 mm ED APO binoculars to be
extremely enjoyable to use, particularly when ﬁtted with
a pair of high-quality eyepieces. If you're in the market
for premium large binoculars, consider giving these serious consideration.
S&T Equipment Editor Sean Walker gets twice the enjoyment
out of binoculars through astronomy and bird watching.

While many of Tele Vue's recent eyepiece
introductions have established new standards
for the wide-ﬁeld observing experience, the
DeLites have far more modest speciﬁcations. With an apparent ﬁeld of view (FOV)
spanning 62°, the DeLites oﬀer only a slightly
wider FOV than Tele Vue's now-discontinued
Radian eyepieces (57°), but smaller than the
company's Delos eyepieces (72°). Indeed,
were you only to look at the DeLites' speciﬁcations on paper, you might come away thinking that their most interesting attributes are
simply the Tele Vue name and their $250 price
tag (only a handful of the company's Plossl
eyepieces retail for less than the DeLites).
What makes the DeLites special, however,
comes from looking through them. And
WHAT WE LIKE:
Upholds Tele Vue's reputation for
optical excellence
Comfortable to look through
Adjustable eye guard with locking collar
Works with Dioptrx astigmatism corrector

that's what I did after borrowing a set of the
samples shown at NEAF for this review. I
tried them with four scopes - a 12-inch f/4
Newtonian reﬂector ﬁtted with Tele Vue's
Big Paracorr coma corrector (reviewed in the
April 2015 issue, page 72); a 12-inch f/5 Dobsonian; a 4-inch f/5.4 apo refractor, and a classic 6-inch f/9 Newtonian.
As I've come to expect from all of Tele
Vue's eyepieces, the DeLites oﬀered superb
views. Stars appeared as pinpoints across the
entire ﬁeld; there wasn't a hint of false color
around even the brightest stars; and there
was only a touch of pincushion distortion,
meaning that round objects won't stretch
into ovals as you sweep them across the ﬁeld.
Daytime views were contrasty and without
a trace of color fringes even at the borders
of high-contrast objects such as power lines
seen against a bright sky.
These are the features everyone looks
for in a quality eyepiece, but the DeLites
oﬀered something more - something that
I also found remarkable about the Tele Vue
Delos eyepieces (reviewed in the June 2011
issue, page 58). The DeLites are very easy to

look through. You never get the feeling that
you are struggling to get your eye perfectly
aligned with the eyepiece. This comes as
little surprise since Tele Vue acknowledges
that the DeLite design evolved as a "smaller,
more economical and lightweight version of
the Delos." Even the name is a clever spin
on a "lite" version of the Delos.
More so than even about their telescopes,
observers tend to develop very strong feelings about their eyepieces, and I too have my
favorites. While I certainly marvel at the views
through many of today's incredible wide-ﬁeld
eyepieces, the bulk of my observing of the
Moon, planets, multiple stars, and deep-sky
objects is done at medium to high magniﬁcations with tracking telescopes. As such, I'm
well served with eyepieces that have a modest
ﬁeld of view. That's something to think about
given that I can own the whole set of DeLites
with their uncompromising 62° FOV for less
than the cost of just one of some of today's
premium wide-ﬁeld eyepieces. ✦
Dennis di Cicco has been gazing skyward since
the dawn of the Space Age.

Sk yandTelescope.com September 2015

http://www.SkyandTelescope.com

Sky and Telescope - September 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sky and Telescope - September 2015