Sky & Telescope April 1998 [antikvár]

SpectrumSuch a Deal!One of the neat things about working at ST is that no day ever unfolds as you expect. A conversation with a surprise visitor, for example, can cause new thinking. That's what happened during Christian Nitschelm's visit last July.I first met this astronomer/high-school teacher from Dijon, France, about a decade ago. During his recent visit we talked about everything under the Sun: from the differences between Sky Telescope and its French counterpart, del et Espace, to funding for astronomical research, to his trips to do photometry at the European Southern Observatory.Then Christian surprised me by saying commercial telescopes for amateurs are much more expensive in France than in the United States. This prompted me to look at prices published in astronomy magazines from several nations. I chose the 8-inch Meade LX200 because it's reviewed by Alan Dyer on page 49. Sure enough, as 1998 opened, this telescope costs about 10 percent more in Japan, 35 percent more in France, and a whopping 57 percent more in Germany.I also compared a 1958 8-inch__ Cave Deluxe Astrola, a Newtonianthat then sold for $575, with today's 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrains from Meade and Celestron. Amazing as it might seem, these $2,800, fully computerized, absolutely modern telescopes cost less when adjusted by the Consumer Price Index. Turning this exercise upside down, that 40-year-old, bare-bones Astrola (it did have a motor drive) would have a $3,300 price tag today!This same thinking also applies to accessories. For example, I ap-^ plaud those far-sighted, fiscally-astute buyers who didn't rush out in 1963 to snap up an Edmund Scientific $14.50 orthoscopic eyepiece. By waiting 35 years, they can now get an identical one for only $72.00 (a saving of $2.35 in current dollars!).Kidding aside, amateurs in all countries should be dehghted that professional-quality, high-tech telescopes and accessories are commercially available at affordable prices. In the United States we should be doubly dehghted because we can purchase this stuff remarkably cheaply..1 ' ' - ^ : 1 i.; .!! 1 -^I- 'P.S. Yet there are $$ in the hills where telescopes are made. April marks the first anniversary of the IPO fi-om Meade; if all continues to go well, its stock will have increased substantially (In the three months ending last November, Meade took about $2.5 million in earnings to the bank.) "A telescope in every home," is the goal of Bonni Parsons Mitchell, Meade's promotion and education maven (and, incidentally, a descendent of Lord Rosse!).