Brief by Allen Best
Science – April 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine
A 30-inch telescope is expected to be placed at a new observatory just south of the town of Gunnison. The county government had placed a down payment on the telescope in hopes it will attract professionals, students, and amateur astronomers to the area, reports the Crested Butte News.
In conjunction with the telescope — which is to be powered from solar cells and windmills — there will be a community sundial, a greenhouse, and a constructed wetland.
Gunnison’s clear night sky should be good for observing stars, but we should note that one of our editors once had to wear insulated coveralls just to observe the city’s fireworks on the Fourth of July. Given that an observatory’s domed roof requires an open slit, we suspect that February observations will require considerable dedication to the pursuit of knowledge.