Hi Gary, Welcome to the wonderfully frustrating world, of astroimaging. Chuck put it best when he said "Persistence is key to success!". Focus: Chuck's suggestion of focusing (using the SLR's view screen) on a bright star is a good one. I've also been known to use the edge of the Moon. That will certainly get you close. But as you noted, what you see on the view screen isn't always what you actually get. So for better focus try shooting a 3 or 4 second exposure of a bright star and immediately display it on a computer monitor and then continue to do that over and over whilst making tiny adjustments between exposures. Coarse focus is a problem that can be addressed by removing the existing knob and replacing it with a much bigger knob. On my scope I replaced the knob with an old gear that's about 100mm across. Plus you'll want to try to make all of your focus knob adjustments CCW as that pushes the primary mirror away from the camera and against gravity which makes for more accurate adjustments. You could also invest in an external focuser. With one of those installed you do the coarse focus with the focus knob moving the primary mirror but then use the external focuser for critical focus. Alas, they are not cheap. You can also try shooting with a focal reducer. As it is you are trying to shoot with the C-8's full 2 meter focal length and that is a BIG challenge. Depending on the focal reducer, you can get that down to 1 meter or less and the shorter the focal length the brighter, crisper and more forgiving of error the system will be. Also, have you checked the scope's collimation? If the mirrors are not aligned the stars will always be out of round and brighter on one side of each star image than on the other. I think I see evidence of that in your images. Star trails: As for star trails, that can be caused by poor polar alignment but it can also be caused by the drive. Considering the age of the scope you are using I'm guessing at least part of the problem is the drive. My first "real" scope was an orange tube C-8 and the drive was great for visual use but lacking for imaging. There are devices called drive correctors with which you can correct errors in real time but that also means buying a device you insert in the optical train that allows you to monitor the drive's performance. But now we're talking pretty serious money. I'm pretty sure SLAS has those devices which (if you are a member of SLAS) you might be able to borrow. However, another way around tracking errors is to just shoot a whole slew of short exposures and then use software to align and stack them. This is common practice with SLRs since most are not designed for long exposures anyway (more than a few seconds and you start getting a bunch of "noise" in the image). I use CCDSoft and TheSky, both available from Software Bisque for my image processing. Practice: Like Chuck said, you'll need to be persistent. And, unless you're willing to be as dedicated to the project as people like Tyler are, you pretty much have to resign yourself to the fact that no matter how well you do, the next issue of Sky & Telescope is going to have pictures that are better. :) So how do you get the practice? I'm a strong proponent of the idea that the easier it is to do something (like practicing) to more you will do it. So start off by putting in a backyard pier (basically a piece of pipe stuck in the ground with the telescope's wedge semipermanently attached and polar aligned. That way when the weather's clear you just carry the scope out and plop it on the wedge and you're all aligned and ready to go. This works even in a light polluted city as all you're trying to do is develop your technique and you don't care if the images are fogged by light. Once you've got technique down you can head for dark skies. BTW, I understand Tyler has agreed to talk at an upcoming SLAS meeting about his imaging technique and show some of his pictures. I highly recommend you or anyone else interested in astroimaging attend his talk. Clear skies (please!), patrick