I want to take astro photos too.

[Pinwheel (Doug)]

Hi, I have my 200mm reflector, tracking motor & precision gear, Nikon D80 DSLR, T-ring to fit DSLR to telescope, Laptop computer. I have no idea what software I need or where to get it. Preferably a free download would be good. I assume stacking images is apart of the software. I'm sorry if i'm asking something that's been discussed before. I love the results you all are getting & want to do this as well.

[LAW (Murphy)]

Welcome to your new addiction Doug, the good news is that there are free options, but I would recommend some small investments.

You can use the standard capture software that came with your camera to control it through the laptop but AstroPhotographyTool is (if you didn't guess from the name) specifically designed for astrophotography and has a free version.

For planetary and solar .avi files I use Registax (free) but I've heard good things about other free software too.

For longer exposures I use DeepSkyStacker and irfanview.

There's loads of info on how to use these that are significantly less confusing than my explainations so I won't try. Good luck and clear skies!