Field of view 

Orion Nebula imaged at 2030mm with a Celestron Edge HD 8

When I first started looking at getting a telescope everybody was like get a short refractor for wide-field astrophotography. I kept thinking why wouldn't I want the largest telescope I can get? The answer is field of view. 

I have the best of both worlds right now, short 72mm refractor with a 430mm focal length and a 8 inch SCT with a focal length of 2030mm.

Running Man imaged at 2030mm with a Celestron Edge HD 8

Both lenses would benefit from a focal reducer/flattener but the hardest thing is the SCT has such a narrow field of view.

I can encompass both the Orion and the Running Man nebulas with the short refractor but the SCT has a narrow field of view. Coupled with a relatively slow f-stop of f/10 subject selection is kind of critical, I can't get some of the more popular targets in one frame. 

Orion  imaged at 430mm with an Astro-Tech AT 72mm ED II

The reducer will take it down to about a 1500mm focal length which will make shooting some of the bigger targets easier and I will still the ability to try and get to some of the smaller imaging targets as well.

Guiding star 

Guide scope )n left ready for a debut.

Had my first successful (well actually any) attempt at guiding. The QHY 55L -II -M and matching mini guide scope worked well, even better when I plugged it into the correct port on the camera.

PHD2 guide scope software guiding my CGEM II mount
after out selecting a star near the Orion Nebula

Out of the gate I was able to run three-minute subs, two minutes longer that anything I've been able to do so far with just tracking on the CGEM II or AVX mounts.

A graph charts the corrections to the mount in right ascension
and declination axes during PHD2 guiding of the Orion Nebula

Had some brief hiccups with clouds and high winds trhat led to some not-so-great seeing which probably gave me the crazy graph on the PHD2 software.

Guiding allowed three-minute subs of the Orion
Nebula with a 430 mm focal length telescope

Down the road will be adding guiding to the Celestron Edge HD 8 but I have to have a focal reducer (already on backorder) before I try to guide theat.