These images of Messier objects were collected using three different telescopes.  I started my AP work with an Orion ST-80 mounted on a NexStar 4SE Alt/Az mount with 30 sec exposures using a Canon Rebel T3 camera. About a year into this effort I purchased an Ioptron ZEQ25 Equatorial mount which allowed me to start using 180 sec unguided exposures to capture dimmer targets. Next, Frazzles loaned me an Orion ED80CF telescope which produced much nicer images without the "blue halos" around bright stars. Soon after that I had the camera modified by Gary Honis to capture the Hydrogen red emission which opened up a whole new array of targets. Next I took the plunge and purchased an Orion Magnificent Mini Autoguider package and started guiding. That made a huge difference in the quality of my images.

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Many of these images deserve more data and better processing. In time I hope to revisit many of these targets to give them the time they deserve.