IRVINE--- Meade Instruments Announces Mark Sibole as the ``Astrophotographer of the Year''
Meade Instruments Corp. (Nasdaq:MEAD) announced today that Mark Sibole of Fife Lake, Michigan was selected as Meade's Astrophotographer of the Year. This annual award recognizes the world's top amateur astrophotographer based on the thousands of images that are submitted to Meade each year.
This year's recipient, Mr. Sibole, is not only an incredible astrophotographer, but an amazing person. He was permanently disabled after being hit by a car in 1996. He later came down with multiple sclerosis (MS). MS has taken the sight from his right eye and gives him trouble with equilibrium. Mark said, "Without my Meade GoTo telescope, this would be a very hard hobby because looking up makes me dizzy. But my scope's ability to find things for me erases that problem completely." Whenever his health and cloudy Michigan skies will let him, you'll find Mr. Sibole in his observatory imaging with Meade telescopes and cameras.
"Over the past year Mark shot some truly stunning images through a variety of Meade telescopes and imagers," said Rich Jorgensen, Meade's Sr. Vice President of Marketing. "However, it was his deep space galaxy shots taken through his Meade's ETX-125 telescope optics that really showed us the level of his talent -- His images speak volumes about what he and that little scope can do. Mark is one of the most prolific astrophotographers we've ever seen, producing as many publishable-quality images in three clear nights as most others will in three months.
Mr. Sibole said, "Meade's Deep Sky Imager has given me a whole new purpose in life -- it's what gets me up in the morning."
ABOUT MEADE INSTRUMENTS
Meade is a leading designer and manufacturer of optical products including telescopes and accessories for the beginning to serious amateur astronomer. Meade offers a complete line of binoculars that address the needs of everyone from the casual observer to the serious sporting or birding observer, as well as a complete line of rifle scopes under the Simmons(R), Weaver(R) and Redfield(R) brand names. The Company distributes its products worldwide through a network of specialty retailers, mass merchandisers and domestic and foreign distributors. Additional information on Meade is available at www.meade.com.