Joe asked me for tips for purchasing a pier on which to mount his scope in his yard. My thoughts follow but I'm sure the ATMs here will have even better ideas so I'll ask questions for the ATMs along with my thoughts. +++++ I'm pretty sure piers are available commercially but I've always favored home built models. I guess one extreme would be "Patrick's Pompous Pier Project", pictures of which can be seen in image numbers 108 to 138 at: http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/PATRICKW03.HTML Obviously "normal" people don't need to go to that extreme. :) For most applications a concrete filled steel pipe cemented into the ground ought to work. I like steel for smaller piers, BTW, because it's easy to weld a flat steel plate to the top and onto which a wedge can be bolted. What diameter and wall thickness for the pipe? I like a thick wall. The steel part of my current pier is 1/2" thick. Diameter? Better too big than too small. Perhaps about the width of the base of the wedge? How deep to bury the pier into the ground? Better too deep than too shallow. FWIW, my first pier (for a C-8 in a ground level observatory) stood one meter above ground but went 1.5 meter into the ground. Fill the pipe? And, if so, with what? Some leave it empty. I used concrete in my first and current piers and sand in my second pier (which was made from 3 oil drums welded end-to-end). Ok, those are my thoughts. Now let's hear from the ATMs. Cheers, patrick