Dave

Almost there then Kev?

It's coming on now mate. Nice one.

A cracking job there Kev. I'll have to whizz down and have another butchers once we've moved.

Looking good Kev. ?

Choices, choices and difficult decisions. Not every astrophotographer recommends Canon's though!
I have been using Nikon's for years and get some great results. I use an intervalometer to take my images.
I just can't be faffed with software control etc. It's another piece of technology that would go wrong and frustrate you in my experience.
Have a look at the images on my Web site in my signature to see what I can achieve from a light polluted town.

Absolutely fantastic.

I tend to agree with Olly.
It's been ages since I checked my polar alignment, and my auto-guided images are still coming out OK.
My mantra: If it's working, don't fiddle.

In my youth I had a three different Tasco telescopes my parents bought me for birthday/Christmas etc.

They really opened up the sky for me and showed me much more than I could see without, despite observing from the London area, somwhat dubious optics and a very wobbly tripod.

So I have a bit of a soft spot for them as they got me started into astronomy and was hooked for life.

Sometimes its not the quality of the scope that makes for the overall enjoyment of the experience, but it does help.

A nice start.

Saturns the object that really hooks people into this hobby, and why not?

The rings will slightly open again over the next couple of months as the Earths position changes. By September the rings will have closed up again to be completely edge-on, but it will be too close to the Sun to be seen at this time. Just think, over the next few years your view is only going to get better as those rings open out, but it will be starting to get lower in our skies as the planet gradually slides further south along the ecliptic.

Ooops!! Wish I hadn't seen that advertised now. I made such a fuss telling my wife that I had to watch it, she had to tell me she'd got me the DVD for chrimbo. That's one surprise gone now.

If you missed it previously, they are reshowing the documentary In the Shadow of the Moon about the Apollo space missions on More4 at 21:00 tonight (20th December).