Hi all, I'm writing now for some advice on giving advice about purchasing a telescope for an educational venue. I am frequently involved in astronomy/night sky outreach programs at the University of Utah's Rio Mesa Center <http://riomesa.utah.edu/>, which is located about an hour out of Moab. Over the past four years, I have been giving naked eye laser tours and using my aging 6" Muksatov-Cassegrain for some telescopic views. I am now told the budget of the field station may have about $1000 to purchase a telescope. I have a lot of experience using different types of telescopes and their accessories, but I'm not so up to speed on what some good options might be for spending this money. Of course I'd like as much bang for the buck as possible, especially in terms of aperture since this is a relatively dark sky site. Something that comes with or can have a tracking motor added within the $1k price would be great too. I will probably be the primary person operating the scope and I am not a huge fan of go-to mounts, but if anyone has opinions or thinks a good aperture and a go-to mount can fit in a $1k budget, I'd love to hear about it. Two relevant details: 1) Dust. This site is about 9 miles down a dirt road and really can't be protected fully from the dust. Open-tube dobs would probably be totally out. 2) Generally speaking, this scope will be stored about 50 feet from where it will usually be used. Transportability is not a big deal. If anyone has been keeping up on their low to mid-range scope options for some novice dark sky observing, let me know what you think! I'd also be interested to know if anyone has some equipment they think would suit this site that they have been thinking about getting rid of. Thanks for your input! k -- ----------------------------------------- Kate Magargal PhD Student Anthropology Department University of Utah ------------------------------------------