star2001

M8 24 x 5 minutes and M13 120 x 30 seconds, both processed in Fitswork mostly.

I would look into at least a Celestron Advanced goto mount, a rich field triplet refractor with dual speed focuser (example: Barska Magnus 65 or 80mm), autoguider. This would a good match for Nikon camera and easiest to master setup. Also a willing mentor helps the most.

I have a Meade 80mm f/10 refractor that I can mount on my Lxd55 mount and also a Lpi camera. Would it be better to eyepiece project or stack a couple of Barlows? I have only used the Lpi as an autoguider till the present.

I was using a new audio star with Lxd mount and was nervous about it. It has been a good controller, my old one had been repaired many times.

M8 is 5min. X 24 subs and M13 is 30sec. X 120 - Etx60 on Lxd55; guided by Lpi; Orion Star shoot v.1 taken 5/3/2014 Tishomingo, OK

Welcome Less, I'm new myself to this forum. Hope you do well in your hobby.

Thanks to all for the thumbs up on my images. While it is windy many times in the US great plains area, it is also very good sky. The OK panhandle is some of the best sky in the US. I'm a member of a sportsman group that happens to do astrophotography, fishing and hunting. The site you see my scope in is actually owned by one of us and is hunting land. We just stay on a small corner of the property to camp, etc. This site is in central southern Oklhaoma (M51 and Leo shot). The M27 and M1 shot were shot in our second site closer to Texas border, our fishing site. This site has fishing cabins and a little easier to camp out on. Neither site has running water, but the second site has electricity and the scenery is 1st class. Photos are of the southern second observing / fishing site.

I'm currently running a generating my AC power to run my two IBM T40 laptops in the field for CCD work. Recently I bought a marine deep cycle battery to run the two laptops. Would it be better to run two separate 100 watt inverters off this one battery or get a 200 watt with two receptacles? I would think it would be better with one 200 watt inverter.

Thanks for the support and comments. I have a few more images to share from about Nov. 2013 to present. The M51 and M65 / M66 were taken 2-22-14, star roundness is not as good for Leo shot for I was imaging close and through the Meridian on Leo. The M27 and M1 shot were the first successful shots with the present scope setup. I use an old version of Meade AutoStar suite that supports LPI and and old version of ASCOM ver. 4.1. My laptops are both IBM T40, Windows XP, one controls the LPI and the other controls the Orion StarShoot v.1.

I've been in the hobby for a long time, but very much a beginner to ccd astrophotography. I took an unconventional approach to my working system, mostly trying to use what I had on hand. I was trying to autoguide my LXD55 mount with an LPI and tried many small scopes for the lack of bright stars. A Meade short tube 60mm Travel scope with a f/ratio of 5.8 is what I settled on. I use the LPI with a .5 image reducer to yield f/2.9 for the guide scope. A long time friend felt sorry for me and gave me an Orion Starshoot v.1 for my cooled camera. I have an over and under shotgun mounting for the small guide scope and the primary scope which is a humble ETX60. My rig is small and easy to use for me and I'm starting to get somewhere slowly and surely with it. Oklahoma is a windy place and some of my photos show some wind effects and some of it is not perfect polar setup probably. Anyway I hope you enjoy my photos and look forward to your comments.