I didn't take this picture, I was actually IN it, but
I don't think anyone needs to see my ugly mug, lol!
The photo was taken by one of the staff, thanks guy.

Anyway, pictured here are (from left) Marj and Roland Christen.
Now who are they you ask? Well, they run a company called
Astro-Physics which produce the absolute finest telescopes
and mounts for the discerning astronomy enthusiasts. I met
them at the Northeast Astronomical Forum (NEAF) show in
upstate NY.

I've been into amateur astronomy actually a little longer
than I have been into photography. In fact, it was my love
for astronomy and optics that led me to photography. Kind of
makes sense if you think about it.

When I was a kid I used to peep my little toy telescope out the
window of my humble abode in a NYC apartment. And no, not for the girls,
but for the stars...seriously! I know, Geek Alert! :-)

Roland Christen is a master optician who pioneered the way for the superb
apochromatic (APO) telescopes we see today. With his company, Astro-Physics,
he crafted some of the finest apochromatic refractor telescopes on the market.
Before him, the market was full of achromatic refractors, which can be great
as well. The problem with "achromats" lies in color correction. For example,
you may see color fringing on the limb of bright objects like the moon or the
star Sirius or a planet like Venus or Jupiter. "False color" can actually
take away a lot from the viewing experience, although some people can deal with
it better than others.

Roland's apochromatic designs finally gave astronomers refractor telescopes with
the color purity of Newtonian reflector telescopes while maintaining the superb
resolution and image definition that only a refractor can give.

Roland Christen is one of my astronomical heroes, he is a living legend in the optics
world. The wait list for his scopes are not months, but years. And the prices are equally
insane. But to the perfectionist, it's a small price to pay. I told Roland it is my dream
to own one of his scopes. That day has not come yet! :-)

Note: Some notable Roland Christen links
http://www.astro-physics.com/
http://geogdata.csun.edu/~voltaire/roland/index.html