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Hello everyone, After impulse buying this 80mm refractor a year ago, being very underwhelmed and returning it, I've stepped back and done a lot of researching of scopes & astronomy (mainly online due to Covid19). Now that I have a little better perspective on things I'm looking to get my first "real" scope and would welcome some advice. A lot of things I read and seen seem to suggest an 8" DOB being a good beginner scope one can grow into, without breaking the bank. Thus I'm leaning towards the Apertura AD8 with a Barlow & maybe additional lenses down the road, but again I welcome any advice or confirmation that this is a good first scope for me and my family? Other details worth mentioning: Price - A definite factor as I have no idea how hooked I or my family will become with the hobby. Last thing I want is an expensive dust collector sitting in the corner of the room. Definitely under $1k, preferably closer to half. If we end up loving it and I trade up, so be it... Interests - Planets and definitely faint & DSO's for sure (so I think that rules out low cost refactors?) Aperture - I know this is the most important aspect and people tend to suggest "Go bigger", 10", 12"+, and I understand the trade offs, but have no practical experience yet, so this is a difficult decision. Price, portability & light gathering are all considered here and why I feel the 8" is probably a good first scope size? (feel free to weigh in here) Location - I mainly see this being used in our backyard, which thankfully is pretty private & dark but we do live in the suburbs and there are stairs to consider. Maybe we'll take it camping or drive to a secluded rural spot once in a while, who knows... Size - Similar to aperture giving more light, I read that 10"and above start to become heavy & unwieldy. I'm no weakling but my wife and kids may want to use this too and the backyard is down stairs off our deck, so factoring this in.... Astrophotography - Probably not yet... My wife's a photo nut and has a couple nice DSLR's already. However, this seems like an expensive & time consuming rabbit hole, plus I would think you'd need auto-tracking mounts. Things could change down the road but for now it's not something I'm really factoring in. One can always google celestial pics right? Manual vs. motorized - I really don't know. I've read the pros & cons, people seem to be on one side or the other, and again astrophotography isn't a big factor at this time, so probably manual.... I was somewhat considering NexStar 6SE as it's barely under $1k, but thinking a 6" will limit DSO capabilities? The 8SE seems nice but we're talking $1200+ for bare bones. Also an interesting conversation I had with a rep from highpointscientific mentioned an 8" DOB would be more blurry and have less color than an equivalent 8" SCT, which got me worried about a DOB and seemed to contradicted things I've read, but again I have no practical experience here. All I know is I bought a $200 scope off Amazon a year ago that could view the moon and bird watch. Saturn and Jupiter were blurry, shaky, white dots, forget about DSO's. I returned that 4.5 star hunk of junk and wanted something more. I hear great things about DOB's far as viewing, but I'm not going to find an accurate video online of what one would really see through it for obvious reasons. So here I am looking for advice. Would an 8" DOB be a good first buy? Would it genuinely be able to see the planets well along with many faint and DSO's? I know a 10" or 12"+ would gather more light while sacrificing cost and bulk, but are they that big of difference between being able to see DSO's and not vs. an 8"? What I would hate is to buy an 8" DOB and immediately think "I should have bought a 10" or bought a 10" and never use it as it's too much of a hassle to lug down the stairs & setup? So C'mon experts, please bring it! If you made it this far, thank you very much & you'll have good karma for many moons to come!!!

A local scout group got in touch with our astro society and asked us to help them with getting their astronomy badge, so John (a fellow astro council member) and I arranged an evening session this Thursday (27th Jan), at a local fishery car park, about seven miles from the city. Not exactly a dark sky site, but at least away from the city lights enough to see the constellations properly. They'd tried to see the constellations from their scout hut but the light pollution was terrible. [ I took my 10” dob, and tried to get them to arrive for 6pm as Jupiter was still in the sky, but most turned up at 6.45, after having their tea etc. The few that did turn up early got to see the planet and all four observable moons, before the planet disappeared behind a hedge. At such low altitude, only one cloud belt could be seen, and the disc wasn't sharply defined. To earn their astronomy badge, they needed to see three objects in the night sky. So we thought a nebula, a galaxy and a star cluster would be perfect. So our first stop was M42, and I checked that every scout could see the nebula, and all four stars of the trapezium clearly. I was quite pleased with the view we got, (I do most of my observing from a rural campsite so I’m used to observing under much darker skies). I could see a blue hue to the nebula, very obvious shape and ‘buffeting’ (for want of a better word) as it extended southwards in the eyepiece. I used a 38mm eyepiece for all these observations by the way. On sessions like this, you don’t have time to do hardcore observing, where you can take your time to get your eyes relaxed, and tease every last bit of detail out of your subject with long viewings. I only ever seem to find new objects when I’m on my own, and can study my maps (in peace, basically! Insert smiley here). No, this is a different kind of observing session. Next was M31, and it was a very useful object to see, because we could use it to explain how the elongated fuzz was a cloud of millions of stars two and a half million light years away. As a test of the seeing, I looked for M110, and yes, it was there. This galaxy can be quite tricky anywhere near the city, so I was pleased to see it. It’s not really dim (my book puts it at mag 8.1), but any nearby streetlights can erase it from the sky. My primary mirror needs a clean too I’m ashamed to admit, so M110 was a welcome sight. I didn’t ask the scouts to look at it as I’m sure most would find it underwhelming. I was going to show the M35 for the star cluster, but John suggested the Double Cluster in Perseus, which was a good idea. Both cluster jest about fit in the field of view. Some of the parents also looked at it, and the scout leader enjoyed the views too. He had more than a layman’s basic knowledge of astronomy, and told me later that he was interested in all sciences. I think this particular scout group are probably lucky to have this guy in charge. He made sure they were all wrapped up well and had thermos flasks of hot chocolate. We showed them the constellations, Ursa Major, Taurus, Orion, Gemini, Canis Major and Minor and told them about the hunting dogs etc. While people were talking and milling about I took in some extra deep sky objects, and did the ‘Auriga line’ of open clusters from M35 to M38, and showed them Alcor as an example of a double star. At one point, a bright meteorite streaked towards Orion’s belt, and left a dust trail. Most saw that as we were looking at Orion at the time, so that was a bonus. The clouds drifted in around 8pm, but that was okay, they’d seen their objects and the scout leader told them they’d all get their badges soon. Later, I thought how it was unfortunate that the ‘wow’ objects weren’t in the sky, as Saturn’s rings, Jupiter’s moons and the craters of the Moon are the things that can really enthuse youngsters new to astronomy. But they enjoyed what they saw, and hopefully it will have encouraged some of them to dig a little deeper into this fascinating hobby.

I currently have a Skywatcher Star Adventurer Tracking mount. I am looking at options to improve my accurate exposure time. My first option is autoguiding. What is an effective autoguiding solution for the Star Adventurer? Or am I better off completely upgrading to a Celestron Advanced VX without an autoguiding solution?

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Sir Patrick's DSO catalogue, I've added the available Caldwells to my basic Marathon search sequence. Those interested may be pleasantly surprised by how many of the additional treasures are only a short hop from a given (or en route to the next) Messier. The sequence for 40°N can be found at the SEDS Messier Marathon homepage or at my blog. Peace, Stephen

Hello everyone, happy Tuesday. First time stargazer here, I'm hoping I can get some awesome feedback from you guys. my fiancé and I are planning on taking a trip to Great Basin National Park from October 25th-30th, we're trying to catch the new moon, we want to do some deep sky viewing but we're having such a hard time on knowing which kind of telescope to purchase. we do have a few must- haves on our purchase, but I wanted to see what you guys recommend and what your experiences have been. we need a telescope that is portable good for deep sky viewing reflector vs. refractor and almost, but not necessarily, easy to use (we have time to learn the ins and outs of it) I apologize if its a lot, but trying to understand the jargon, as of now, is giving me a hard time Cant wait for any responses!! p.s. anyone ever been to Great Basin? what should we expect on our trip? its our first time going and first time doing any serious camping!!! THANKS A BUNCH!!! -LILY

Hi, i captured orion nebula with nikon d5600 and nikon 18-140mm lens,the images it took was shaky and look like small star trails but i kept only at minimum shutter speed...what is wrong with the image? i hv attached sample image..pls help

I am new to this forum so I apologize if I am doing this wrong. I'm still trying to learn! I have mostly done widefield astrophotography, but I have recently obtained a Skywatcher Star Adventurer Tracking mount. So now I am beginning some more deep sky astrophotography, but I'm wondering if there is any advice I could get to help improve my pictures. My equipment list is as follows: * Skywatcher Star Adventurer mount (that allows for 2 minutes at maximum focal length) * Canon 550D (Rebel T2i) * Canon 75-300mm f4.0-5.6 The night sky ranks at about a 7 on the Bortle Scale. The Milky Way hardly visible when it is out Below is an example of a photo that I recently obtained from my backyard to give an example of what I have done so far. Any help would be much appreciate to improve my photos. Once again, sorry if I am not using this forum correctly. Conor.

Hi all I’m just looking for advice on upgrading telescop. At the minute I’ve got a Meade ETX 125 and had some good views with it so far. Mainly Moon Planets and brighter clusters. However I wanted to see more Galaxies and nebulas which is a much to ask for a F15 scope. im looking at second hand Celestron/Meade 9.25” f10 s With maybe a focal reducer and Sky-Watcher 10”-12” F4.9 dobsonians which is the better choice?

After a few months of getting used to my new 8 inch beast, I decided to start astrophotography (luckily today is Black Friday in most tech shops in my country). So I decided to drop the idea of buying a DSLR and started thinking about getting a webcam. The thing is that I want to try deepsky AP, so i was wondering, is there a webcam that could get me good results for DSO AP? Don't worry, I don't want anything too fancy because I'll be happy with entry-level images. (i saw some nice Andromeda pictures with 20GBP cameras on this forum so I'm confident that it would work). My budget is ±100 GBP, which in my opinion is more than enough for a good webcam . So... is it worth getting a webcam? Or is there something better? Should I wait and raise more money for a DSLR? Thanks a lot! Astrid

After a very sturdy tripod and 'head/mount?' for general photography at the current moment but to also use for a Sky guider when I get one in the future My questions are; Which tripod do I need to handle a small scope and or camera with a big lens attached to sky guider, Tripod budget less than £100 Which sky guider should I go for to image the milkyway and nebula? probably 6-8 lbs payload? Budget less than, £400 Do sky guiders come with their own mount? I heard something about a ball head, mount budget less than £50 Is there anything else I may need with what I have mentioned, power, adaptors, filters etc. Much appreciated, I am new here so I hope this is ok to ask. I currently own a NEQ6 with two small telescopes which I have problems with that I will discus in another topic, so I know how to image that way, but I fancy something small and less stressful in the meantime.

Need a bit of help to narrow down what I see, I've wanted to buy a telescope a year ago but a couple of things stopped that decision. Saw a strong bright glowing star in the cloudless sky so I picked up my old binoculars laying around. I appended three images, one what my phone saw, secondly the raw image, thirdly a star map pointing towards the object (center-ish). I know it feels pretty laughable for s.o with an 8" GOTO + 5 yrs of experience, but maybe we can attempt to locate the object anyway ;) IMG_20200312_191702.dng

If any of you are interested in a star party in East Suffolk, we have been hosting a Star Party every March and October at Hinton, near Saxmundham, Suffolk at a newly developed Caravan and campsite, Haw Wood Farm, for the last 5 years. It is £12 per pitch per night with electricity hook up (adapter needed) call Dan or Georgina (see link below). Some of you here may know about it; on good nights we have had a SQM reading of 21.75 - it can get dark enough to see the Zodiacal Light! Many local society members meet up: Norwich, Castle Point, North Essex, OASI (Orwell), DASH (local) and Breckland among others and it is generally friendly and welcoming (if we can see you in the dark!). Saturday 14th we run an event: a skytour or talks in the cafe, dependent on weather. Unfortunately, timing clashes with the SGL star party but we're a long way from it. See link for details: http://www.hawwoodfarm.co.uk/things-to-do/events-hawwood/

Here I'm posting some impressions about southern sky observations from Kiripotib guest farm, Namibia ( http://kiripotib.com, www.astro-namibia.com ). 5 amateur astronomers from Astropolis club, Kyiv, Ukraine were involved. Our main aim was visual observing, however, main direction for amateur astronomers there includes astrophotography. Anyway, we booked theirs 24" f/4 and 14.5" f/4.7 dobsonians with Paracorr and Ethos eyepieces set. Booking (we've received a 10%discount as members of astronomy club) was made at http://www.astro-namibia.com/htm_e/e_index.html There are a lot of things to tell, I'll try my best to be brief and informative. The preparation begun at spring 2018. When our dates of visit were confirmed (31Jul-5Aug 2019, new Moon) and rooms were booked, I have started to work on observing lists. Skysafari Pro is a great tool for such purpose, I hope you know. As a result of this stage three observing lists have appeared: 76 showpieces, 240 additional list, and 400 objects in total main list. Some special lists, including nebulas with good response to filters, objects for rich field and Arp galaxies list, were made. After the long flight (~5 hours to Doha from Kyiv and then ~8.5 hour to Windhoek) we reach Hosea Kutako airport, where we rented a car beforehand. The farm suggested transfer from airport, but we were planning to explore the country a bit. About 145km to the South, Kiripotib guest farm is located. Actually there we drove by rather good quality ground road, Tivoli AstroFarm is located about 30km further South, then desert starts. It is located in an area with almost zero artificial light pollution. Kiripotib is a very nice and picturesque place, all of us love it. Hans Georg von Hase, the owner of this farm, is a very pleasant and energetic person. He and his wife Claudia keep great authentic atmosphere at the farm. About other activities there you can read at http://kiripotib.com. There's a lot of interesting things one should try. All of the staff were friendly and conditions were very good. There were about 10 people from Germany and one from Korea, who came there for astrophotography. There are 12 well equipped places for astronomy amateurs, all their needs seem to be already taken care of, including European type electric plug, comfortable chairs and even night meals. First night shown us amazing sky, and Milky Way was bright and broad, casting shadows. Complex of dark nebulae called Dark horse was obviously seen. Zodiacal light was massive each evening and morning. Southern Delta Aquarids meteor shower had its peak in those days, so we observed a bright meteor each 5-10 mins in the morning. Both instruments we've booked (14.5" and 24" dobsonians) have wonderful mechanic and very good optics. They both were equipped with Telrad finder, and 24" dob additionally with optical finder. 21mm, 13mm, 8mm and 4.7mm Ethos eyepieces set gave us a great view, the most useful were 21mm and 8mm. A lot of help on tuning scopes we've received from Frank Sackenheim, a German astrophotographer from Cologne. We've met the Southern sky for the first time in our lives, but preparations were made, and actually there was not a big deal to find most of the targets of our visual observations. During 5 nights we've seen 200+ objects, here I'd like to present the best 20 with Dec -40° or less. The descriptions were made by our team at telescope, where I wrote abbreviated notes to Skysafari, then some specifications and detailed impressions added at daytime. Ethos 21mm at 24” f/4 dobsonian with fov 0,88 deg, mag. 114х was mostly used, or 8mm Ethos with 300x magnification, if mentioned. 1. bn (bright nebula) N2070 Dor (Tarantula neb) (Caldwell 103). A real diamond of Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). It was obviously seen by unaided eye at midnight. Size 40*25arcmin brightness 5mv, my subjective rating 10/10. !!!!! It is worth to travel 12 thousand kilometers to see that! The nebula is impressive and so bright, with many details, and furthermore, it belongs to other galaxy. Its name seems to be really precise, but Sir John Herschel called it Looped nebula. Also one can imagine warrior's helmet or alien's head… I failed to find something similar in the northern hemisphere. Only M8, Lagoon nebula, with filters under dark sky may show such variety of details and deliver such kind of impressions. I read before the trip about its feature to change view with OIII and Hbeta filters, but I was not ready for the scale of change! It was totally different comparing view through those filters, some net resources I've found can present the general impression: https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/523066-novel-tarantula-in-h-alphah-beta-high-res-edgehd-mg-oag-cge-pro/ 2. bn N3372 Car (C82) Eta Carinae nebula. 120 arcmin, 1mv. 10/10 !!!! A lot of details, very good response to filters, we admire the view very long. The dark Keyhole nebula near open cluster Cr228 within NGC3372 is a real pleasure. Open clusters Tr 14, 15, 16, Bo 10 according to distance provided in Skysafari, are located between the nebula and us. Open cluster nearby with its own nebulosity NGC3324 also had good response to filters. 3. gc (globular cluster) NGC 104 = 47 Tuc (Caldwell 106) 50 arcmin, 3.95mv, 10/10 !!!!! In my opinion, this is the No.1 globular cluster of the southern heavens. Its placement, morphology, effect are outstanding. It has only 5% less brightness than Omega Centauri. Very bright, seen by unaided eye with ease. Totally resolved in 8mm eyepiece. Vivid yellow color, caused partially by foreground stars, as seen here: https://www.hansonastronomy.com/ngc-104 http://www.messier.seds.org/xtra/ngc/n0104.html One can find photo of the cluster, where that color is totally burned to white by overexposed image. It is interesting, that Sir John Herschel looking on this gem through his 18-inch scope found pink tint at center, and I can agree with that. Very high condensation to the center, small elongation, star chains to East and West, some of chains are parallel (!). Dark checkmark above the center slightly to the right (as on photo I cited from hansonastronomy.com above) was remarkable, failed to find something about that details on forums or books. And, finally, very interesting neighbourhood. Gx (galaxy) PGC 260239 2.3*1.4arcmin, 13mv 3/10 and gc (globular cluster) from SMC (!) NGC 121 1.5arcmin, 11.2mv. 9/10 ! in the same field of view of 21mm Ethos with 47 Tucanae; it is incredible to see two globular clusters from different galaxies in one eyepiece fov! 4. pn (planetary nebula) NGC 3132 (Caldwell 74) in Vela 1 arcmin, 9.69mv, 9/10 !! Great Southern ring nebula. In 8mm eyepiece very bright and large rings of nebulosity and very bright ~10m central star seen. 5. dn Caldwell 99 (Coalsack) in Crux, 10/10, Huge (7°*5°) dark nebula (dn), one can easily find it by the unaided eye; looking through 21mm Ethos in 24" dobsonian some stars through patches of dark nebulae were seen. Admiral William Henry Smyth called it the Dark Magellanic cloud. On the edge of the Coalsack there's a bright oc (open cluster) NGC4609 (Caldwell 98) 13 arcmin, 6.9mv, 6/10, a picturesque view! 6. Open cluster and nebula NGC 3603 + NGC3576 in Carina 12*10 arcmin, 9.1mv. 9/10 !! Very good response to UHC filter, 3603 has resemblance to letter Y with a kind of plume, and 3576 looks like a fish with bright head. 7. gc NGC 362 (Caldwell 104) in Tucan 14 arcmin, 6.4mv, 7/10 ! Well resolved, though well condensed to the center, somehow similar to 47 Tucanae, located to the west of SMC, less yellow tint, less details: perfect round shape, star chains to the west. Galaxy nearby NGC406 2.5*1arcmin, 12.46mv 5/10 big, rather faint, elongated. 8. planetary nebula NGC 5189 =Gum 47 in Musca, 3*2arcmin, 9.5mv, 10/10. !!! It is called Spiral planetary, with 8mm Ethos big nebula of complex structure. Resemblance to a lion's head or dog head, due to spirals shows shape of sea horse. Good response to UHC filter. 9.gc NGC 4833 (Caldwell 105) in Musca.14arcmin, 6.9mv, 7/10 ! O'Meara called it Southern Butterfly because of star chains shapes and direction. It has bright dense center and conspicuous star chains, 9m star nearby. 10. bn NGC3199 in Carina 22arcmin, 11.1mv, 8/10. !! Great view with ОIII filter. Its bright part resembles an open parachute or delphine in jump. Reminds me NGC 6888. 11. gx NGC 7424 in Grus 5*2.7arcmin, 10.56mv, 8/10 !! Beautiful galaxy, reminds me М101, bright, elongated very bright core, well defined medium bright arms, obvious by averted vision. 12. gx group N7552 +N7582 +N7590 +N7599 in Grus (Grus quartet) NGC7582 the brightest one, 6.9*3.2arcmin, 10.6mv, 9/10 !! Some details like arms seen, very nice view of close group. In 21mm eyepiece fov PGC71043 0.9*0.8arcmin, 14.86mv, medium bright and elongated a bit. 13. Open cluster NGC 6193 (Caldwell 82) 14 arcmin, 5.2mv. 8/10, and nebula NGC6188 20*12arcmin, 5.19mv. 8/10 in Ara. Bright open cluster with low concentration of stars. Nebula with irregular shape was seen, also some shine of unresolved stars (?) was observed. 14. pn NGC 3918 in Centaurus. 0.3arcmin 8.2mv 9/10. ! Its name Blue planetary is really precise. It has distinct blue color, bright, no sign of the central star. Irregular round shape, _two_ shells, we used 21mm (114x) and 8mm (300x) eyepieces. 15. oc NGC 3766 (Caldwell 97) in Centaurus, 9 arcmin, 5.3mv, 10/10. !! Pearl cluster. Roundish shape with defined borders, resemblance to flower, interesting asterism like smile from the center to the east of cluster, two bright orange stars are located from opposite sides, some blue and white stars create unforgettable view. 16. gx NGC1672 in Dorado 6.2*5 arcmin, 9.73mv, 9/10. !! Very large galaxy with bar, obvious arms, core seems to be a bit eccentric, irregular form, like almond. Surfing internet, one can buy a blanket with its photo: https://www.zazzle.com/spiral_galaxy_with_bars_ngc_1672_astronomy_picture_fleece_blanket-256699418826068886 17. bn IC2948 + oc IC2944 in Centaurus (Caldwell 100) 65 arcmin, 4.5mv. 10/10. Very bright open cluster, filter shows big nebula of irregular shape. It is called Running Chicken. 18. oc Wishing Well Cluster NGC3532 (Caldwell 91) in Carina 50 arcmin, 3mv. 9/10. It really has resemblance to a well with bright silver coins lying at its bottom. Other name - Pincushion cluster - is also popular. Very bright open cluster with well defined borders. Asterism arbalest is defined within the cluster. V382 Carinae is placed at the edge of the cluster. 19. oc Gem cluster NGC3293 in Carina, 6arcmin, 4,7mv. 10/10 !! Great view! Well defined borders and good condensation. One of the three brightest stars of the cluster placed in a row has intense orange color. 20. oc Southern Pleiades IC 2602 (C102) in Carina, 100 arcmin, 1,6mv. 10/10 !!! Really, there's some resemblance to Pleiades, big, very bright cluster, no nebulosity, easily detected by unaided eye. Many other gems of Southern sky are well known (e.g., gc Omega Centauri, gx Centaurus A, gx NGC1365 in Fornax, gx NGC247 in Cetus, gx NGC 55 in Sculptor and so on) actually do not require a visit to the Southern hemisphere, but we also observed them with great interest. After admiring the gems of the Southern sky, such clusters as M14, M22, M5 now may look not so impressive as before our trip, the same relates to Orion nebula or M17. Full detailed observing report of 200+ objects is available at the site of our astronomy club in Ukrainian http://www.astroclub.kiev.ua/forum/index.php?topic=45298.0 I think such experience is necessary for every astronomy amateur from the Northern hemisphere. Looks like most of the sky's gems were hidden to the Southern hemisphere intentionally. J Anyway, local farmers made a great work to supply such opportunities for travellers like us.

Ladies and gentleman, Thank you for helping me in advance. As a kid I've always been fascinated with the sky and what was in it. The nights sky is filled with beautiful stars and nebulae and I want to see them for myself and be amazed how insignificant we really are compared to this vast open space. So let me adress some of the key points that I want for a first scope. 1. Around €1000 2. Big aperture, I want to see as much as possible and as far as possible while not losing a clear image 3. I would like to have a push to or go to system 4. Beginner friendly 5. Size is not a problem 8. I prefer reflectors since it seems they give more aperture for the money but if you know a better scope that sees more with less aperture let me know 9. I have a Canon 550D and maybe I could use this for a bit of astrophotography. This is last on the list tho and can be scrapped if the first 3 points aren't met Of course build quality is very important when making my choice so keep that in mind as well. I'm looking forward to you guys advice. Happy stargazing and clear skies!

I was out imaging on Saturday night and faced an image shift problem for the first time in 3 years. Description is below: I had three targets in mind. Horse head, M51 and Pinwheel. The scope to be used was my GSO RC6, camera was my Canon 500D, mount was my HEQ5-PRO guided with PHD and finder guider. I had made sure that there was no drift when the scope pointed Southward near the Celestial Equator. I forgot to check the Eastern Horizon. I setup the exposures and after an hour found that the object had shifted Westward in the frame. No shift North or South, just Westward. Also, time and again the guider seemed to be loosing the star as I could clearly see that the mount was tracking intermittently. The entire night was an absolute waste. Any advice on solving my problem would be greatly appreciated.

This is the camera that I've wanted and now , it's part of my kit . Instead of getting a partial with the 174mm cool , I can now handle the outer regions also . Thanks for the advice Matt Jenko. Orion has some funky color and stretching it a bit too much but, it turned out better than I was hoping for. Awesome Camera , now to get it framed correctly before I make my run weather permitting.

Hello, I am an amateur astronomer that wants to get into deep-sky astrophotography. I already have a telescope which is Celestron Nexstar 127 SLT but it doesn't meet the requirements to take photos of wide field nebulaes/galaxies, (Ex: Orion Nebula, Andromeda Galaxy). I need some help on what to use and afford! It has to be under £550. I need a 70 or 80mm optical tube, with a mount that does polar alignment and can be attached to the optical tube then I need a Canon camera that can take long exposure high ISO photos and last a filter or two to help reduce light pollution and contrast the nebula/galaxy more! This is just for my birthday, I do not expect the best! I just need a beginners setup.

Hi Folks, This is my first caibrated deep sky image of M42, 10x 180s, 10x 180s darks, flats & bias, all at iso 400, not enough exposure really. I'm reasonably happy but it was processed in css but as JPGs as it doesn't recognose the Canon 550d Raw files. I'm not sure what is causing the concentric circular ghost pattern to the right, any clues. Thanks for any feed back http://www.flickr.co...s/41661025@N06/