This is a shot of the nebula in Orion taken Thursday night with the D70 hooked to the telescope. Thursday night was beautiful. Clear skies and the temperature was warm. You know it's been winter for a while when twenty degrees feels comfortable.

Also took (and tossed) photos of Comet Machholz, which you'll find here in the night sky. Through the telescope it shows up as a big fuzzy ball and you can't really discern a visible tail.

To see the tail long exposures are required, which means some sort of tracking device to stay focused on the same spot. Even though I used the telescope's equatorial drive the shots came out a little blurry and nearby stars had trails. You can see a little of this in the nebula photo.

The key to precise tracking is having the telescope perfectly balanced and aligned with the north star. I had balanced it for the normal eyepiece, but didn't think to redo it once the heavier D70 was attached.

And focus, got to figure out a better way to focus. I used to think focusing through normal eyepieces was tough. Little did I know.

For the final shots of the evening I used the wide angle lens on the tripod and took long exposures as the Moon rose. I was thinking that a small flashlight beam projected on the tree would give it a cool glow. It turned out that the camera picked up more of the flashlight itself, including a little jig I did across the snowy lawn.