Had a great time observing with Kerry. Arrived about 8:30 and got setup and after some problems with alignment we got to some deep sky observing.looking at several galaxies, globular clusters, and double stars. I had a early morning Mon. so packed up about 11:00 or so

Kerry’s update: Although we were expecting more obervers we still had a great time. I also had a nice opportunity to compare views of many DSO’s between my 6in and Jim’s 8in SCT.

Near the end of the night I decided to try out some imaging with my new setup the 80mm and c6 mounted side by side. I imaged through the c6 and had the 9mm illuminated reticle on the 80mm. There I was manual guiding for the first time ever (Tim Harpur makes it look so easy) Anyway after Jim left I managed to get a hang of the guiding and only had enough energy to get a few shots of M51 ~4 minute exposure each… see the results below. A little noisey and could have benefited from more frames but it is a first and there is always room for improvement Tips or suggestions are very welcome…

M51: first successful DSO shot
By:KerryLH