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LVAS<BR>
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We had our 17th Annual "Regional Gathering of Amateur Astronomer's" this past Saturday at GWU here in Boiling Springs NC. Camera Concepts of New York City has been coming for the past 10 years...always bringing a load of astronomy equipment, including many fine apochromatic and ED refractors. Bill Burgess of Burgess Optical has been a regular too.<BR>
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Bill Burgess is a designer of both telescopes and astronomical equipment. His website is <A href="http://www.burgessoptical.com/">www.burgessoptical.com</A><SPAN class=squiggly title="To see spelling suggestions, click this word" splc="splc" state="new" word="www.burgessoptical.com"><A href="http://www.burgessoptical.com/"></SPAN></A><BR>
He brought a most interesting new "prototype" scope which he said would be available for sale in April. It is a 4.5-inch Maksutov-Newtonian. This one is for visual use (see the very tiny secondary) but will have another version for each size with a larger secondary for imaging to allow full illumination. In addition to the 4.5-inch will be a 5 and 6-inch respectively.<BR>
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The quality of the scope that I looked at was superb. The Paint, cosmetic's, corrector coatings, all excellent and the scope had a feel of high quality. The price of the 4.5-inch with rings and dovetail is (get this) $199, the 5-inch will be $299 and I think the 6-inch will be $399. The prices seem pretty amazing. See the picture of me holding one of his small Apo refractors and alos the 4.5-inch prototype with Bill Burgess. <BR>
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Roger Ivester<BR>
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<BR> <BR><FONT face=Verdana size=4></FONT> <BR> <BR><FONT face=Verdana><EM><STRONG> I</STRONG> can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look up into the heavens and say there is no God. Abraham Lincoln</EM></FONT><BR><BR><BR><BR><br /><hr />Windows Live™: E-mail. Chat. Share. Get more ways to connect. <a href='http://windowslive.com/explore?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_t2_allup_explore_012009' target='_new'>Check it out.</a></body>
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