[FPSPACE] FW: An amateur scope revived in Russia

[LARRY KLAES]

>From: "John M. McMahon" <mcmahon at LEMOYNE.EDU>
>Reply-To: History of Astronomy Discussion Group <HASTRO-L at listserv.wvu.edu>
>To: HASTRO-L at listserv.wvu.edu
>Subject: [HASTRO-L] An amateur scope revived in Russia
>Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2008 07:48:03 -0400
>
>News Daily 7/30/08:
>
>"Eclipse revives homemade telescopes"
>
>"From a garden bursting with roses, violets, burgeoning cabbages and broken
>furniture in the remote West Siberian town of Barnaul rises a rickety 
>wooden
>tower capped with an aluminum dome.
>
>World War Two veteran and astronomy enthusiast Mikhail Levchenko built this
>telescope and observatory from scratch in the 1970s, working far from the
>grand research centers that were once at the heart of the Soviet space race
>with the West.
>
>Now, the neighbors and locals he mesmerized with his creation want to bring
>it back to life, and they hope a total solar eclipse on August 1 will
>inspire enthusiasts elsewhere to support them.
>
>Since Levchenko's death in 2002, the telescope, which has a 40-cm (16-inch)
>diameter glass lens that magnified 500 times, has gathered dust. Thieves
>tried to steal it for the scrap metal it once was and the observatory sank
>deeper into the ground."
>
>More:
>
>http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/l5724837-russia-telescope/
>
>JMM / LMC