M45 ... first time for a couple of things tonight!

[Paul-F]

Bought a second hand 80mm apo a while back now and needed a mount so recently found an LDX75 at a good price - tonight was the first chance to actually get out and shoot anything so in spite of the gusting wind and the patchy cloud cover with showers I aligned it as best I could behind a wall offering some wind protection and took a few shots, primarily to see how long I can go unguided for. M45 was in a good spot but the bright moon was fairly close so not expecting any nebula to show. I managed a few before the rain come in, the one attached is a 4 minute exposure @ 100 iso, the last one I did. First time the camera has been over 30s as well Scope is a Meade 5000 APO .... on the look put for an 'inexpensive' flattener now I think.

[BillPickle]

That's awesome.  I recently got an 80mm st-80 and really wish i hung off for an ed scope now.

That looks great.

4 minutes unguided is awesome.

[Paul-F]

That's awesome.  I recently got an 80mm st-80 and really wish i hung off for an ed scope now.

That looks great.

4 minutes unguided is awesome.

Hopefully it was not a flukey mount alignment. Really looking forward now to a very dark settled night to see how far I can push it and what comes of it

Researching likely targets now as the weather is so rubbish ...!

[bruno]

I have got the skywatcher field flattener, which works well with my ascension 80ed  i think it was about £ 69.00 because it acts as the extension piece for the camera to gain focus

[Paul-F]

I have got the skywatcher field flattener, which works well with my ascension 80ed  i think it was about £ 69.00 because it acts as the extension piece for the camera to gain focus

I ordered one of these this morning, I am not looking for perfection but from what I've seen it will do nicely

[Roy Challen]

+1 for the Sky watcher field flattener, good vfm.