28-01-2008, 11:07 PM
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Galaxy hitchhiking guide
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: The Shire
Posts: 8,484
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I think Meade were always going to loose this one. The RC design proposed by American astronomer George Ritchey and French Astronomer Henri Chrétien in the early 1910s is very specific.
I suspect the S&T gallery & APOD images produced by astro-photographers such as Gendler, Croman & Verschatse etc. were a little too irresistible for the marketing guru's at Meade not to get a piece of.
There are very few commercial RC makers on planet earth at present. The “coma-free” Schmidt-Cassegrain design Meade employed was first published in the early 60’s by Ronald Willey in Sky & Telescope magazine....and has merit...but is not an RC....and it looks like the lawyers agreed...
As to whether we will see cheap Chinese RC's....well...maybe...then again maybe not...as while they are making some excellent smaller optics, I have yet to see anything that is "top shelf" in larger apertures...and won't be selling any of my current imaging ensemble for a "bigger-better-cheaper" solution just yet 
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