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How could I find a professional astronomer willing to guide an evening of star gazing?

I own a 28 seat charter bus in the NYC metro area. I also work for a bus company that has buses as large as 57 seats. A recent survey of things one would like to do came up with the suggestion of stargazing in the country. Be guided with someone with a telescope no smaller than 12". Have other equipment like binoculars also available. Binoculars are cheap, $50-100 for most ones I'd think of. I could supply a few pairs myself. How would I find the astronomer? University? Club? What would be a reasonable rate for say a 3 hour visit? Can you make any suggestions in upstate NY or eastern Pennsylvania? Thanks. Would this be a good pair of binoculars? http://www.opticsplanet.net/meade-9x63-roof.html I could handle the purchase of 2-3 of these.

Public Comments

1. you would really have to go a long distance to be able to see the skies without interference from city lights.In my town the local college has a star gazing planatarium that rotates showing the constellations using a pointer for each one.you might look into that possibility.
2. From what I know there are groups/clubs of astronomers or people who have astronomy as a hobby. They do go out to schools or have events. I don't know any specific names but these people are really good. You may not get a professional astronomer but you may be able to use someone who has just done star gazing as a hobby for many years (they may not be professional but they are still pretty good). Look online for astronomy groups. I think in eastern PA there are groups in Bucks County and Montgomery county for amateur astronomer groups but like i said I don't know their specific titles or names and they are pretty good.
3. You can get people to do most any thing for the right price. Just put an add in the paper and pay the price.
4. Most Astronomical Societies are non profit organizations and will not cater to this type of money making, money charging event. They concentrate on students, scouts, and enlightening the general public. The NYC metro area is one of the absolute worst places in the United States of America to try to do stargazing due to the heavy light pollution. You also need to carry liability insurance for events like these in case of damaged equipment or injured customers. Your best bet would be to try to solicit individual person not a club, or take your group to a planetarium. Telescopes are expensive pieces of equipment and most owners of the larger telescopes are not willing to share with unknown and uneducated public. Also most of the large telescopes are housed in private observatories
5. I think that there are ways to deal with most of the challenges mentioned above, which are real but not necessarily prohibitive. Since you have a bus, you can obviously use it to travel to an area where the skies are at least acceptably darker. You do not need pristine skies to see the planets or the Moon or even several beautiful star clusters. The Orion nebula could be seen tonight in such conditions. While I do not live anywhere near NYC, I am fairly certain that there are several amateur astronomy clubs in the local region - at least within driving distance. Some clubs are more oriented toward public outreach than others. I doubt that any club would charge you anything in excess of what it takes to cover their expenses, and I think most clubs would agree to accommodate such a group if they were seriously interested and respectful of the equipment. I might add that most professional or academic astronomers are not all that skilled at actual observing, unless they happen to be amateur astronomers on the side. Professional astronomy has largely outgrown the stargazing end of the vocation. Another issue is weather. You will probably have to commit far in advance for the night of interest. New York is not known for its clear skies, so you may have to set up an alternate schedule based on weather delays. In any case, my recommendation would be to go on line and contact the local amateur astronomy clubs in your region. If anyone can help, they can. I suspect some of them will work with you, or at least point you in the right direction. Good Luck. ADDED: The most popular binoculars for astronomy are generally the 8x50 or 10x50 models. These are usually light enough to handle (very important) while being big enough to gather enough light to see most objects, if only as dim smudges of light.
6. Just contact an astronomy club. In the NYC metro area. You must have dozens. These guys and gals have found places nearby or not too far away where city lights are not a problem. Logic says they make periodic trips to those locations and have all the logistics and costs figured out. Don't buy any equipment until you meet these folks and get the low down. Have fun. Great way to meet new friends and get out of the city now and then.
7. Contact your local astronomy club. Most clubs would be ecstatic to help out on a event like your thinking. http://www.astronomyclubs.com/1/190/34/0/club.aspx http://www.aaa.org/
8. Maybe you could contact a local astronomy club.