First Light: The Delos Twins

[Naemeth]

I was debating with myself as to whether or not I should post this, but decided for it. I wasn't feeling a long session, and it only ended up being about 30 minutes, but that was some really enjoyable observing.

Targets were M45, M42/43 and Jupiter.

Started with the 24mm Pan on M45, and I was a little disappointed to see that there wasn't much room for framing, beautiful stars, just not framed very well. Perhaps this is a target better served with a shorter focal length .

Next up, Jupiter, started again with the 24mm Pan and could firmly see two orange bands, nice and dark sky - a bit of thermals but they weren't too bad. So, I decided to pop in the 14mm Delos, and the first thing I noticed was, as Shaun says, a demonic black sky background. I honestly can't describe it better than that, it was quite a pleasant surprise. I thought I saw a tiny dot above the main bands, but can't be 100% sure. Moving up to the 12mm, I noticed that it is not parfocal with the 14mm, but it's not that far off. Similar view, but thermals were a lot worse, and the seeing seemed to be getting worse by this point, so I changed back to my 24mm Pan with M42 in my sights (it had previously been hiding behind a tree, so I needed to wait to observe it!)

So, I swung my scope around to one of the easiest Messier's, and was instantly struck by the colour of M42/43. I kid you not, green. Not just hints of colour like I can see with M57, full blown green. I was also surprised at the extent, really very large indeed (about 1/4 to 1/3 of the FOV). Popped in the 12mm and 14mm Delos, and it was really much the same. Honestly, the view from the 14mm was enough to make me stop and just keep saying 'wow'. If anyone had heard me I must've sounded mad....

Oh well, until next time

P.S. I went a bit overboard on warm clothing:

1 Extremely well insulated coat

1 Thick Hoodie

1 Thick Golf-Type Jacket

1 Thin Hoodie

1 Long Sleeve T-Shirt

1 Short Sleeve T-Shirt

Jeans

Thermal T-Shirt and Long Johns

Thermal Socks (so that's 2 pairs I have on...)

Thought Hat/Gloves/Scarf would be over-doing it a bit.

[faulksy]

nice little report naemeth, i only have the 14mm delos but it is very good, i noticed the same as you and shaun the back ground sky was black which improved the contrast no end on dso,s i loved m31, even from a bit of a light polluted garden the views were amazing, roll on those clear frosty nights

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice report. According to the TV site, the 12mm and 14mm have effective focal planes 0.48" apart, which is quite a bit. Odd that you say they are not far apart. I have heard other conflicting reports on positions of focus on these EPs

[Naemeth]

Nice report. According to the TV site, the 12mm and 14mm have effective focal planes 0.48" apart, which is quite a bit. Odd that you say they are not far apart. I have heard other conflicting reports on positions of focus on these EPs

Maybe didn't seem that far off as I turned the focus knob quite quickly...

[Pig]

Excellent news Jonathan I find it hard to communicate just how good these Delos eyepieces are especially the contrast - the 17.3mm Delos is a marriage made in heaven with my 9.25

I do not find them far apart either but I don't really notice how far I move the adjuster, it takes no more than 3 milli seconds

[AlexB67]

Nice report Jonathan.  I suppose buying a Delos I would expect nothing else before I even started reading :0)

Maybe didn't seem that far off as I turned the focus knob quite quickly...

Could be that. I noticed when focusing eyepieces with the helical focuser in the heritage it is turn turn turn, and it seems miles across eyepieces when thinking about it, without actually looking at how far the focuser has moved. The Crayford in the 10 inch moves up and down really quickly, but yet at the same time with good precision.  The BSTs are supposed to be near parfocal, but in the Heritage it feels far from that. In the 10 inch it seems a  small bit of a turn.

Now offtopic I know, bit since I got a maxvision 20mn and a 25mm BST, those two are almost perfectly parfocal, pop in one, take out the other and no adjustment needed pretty much. Two different brands, entirely different eyepieces,  and yet the most parfocal I have, nice bonus.

Obviously I was meant to buy it of that reason