M42 — The Orion Nebula

Taken on December 22nd. The mount really doesn't perform well in the cold; I probably need to replace all the grease. The free axes rotate very stiffly by hand. The total RMS while guiding was 1.5-2", with constant spikes of 3-4" in various directions on both axes. There might also be a slight amount of guide scope flex. On the bright side, I defeated the three-ray glare around bright stars using a cardboard aperture stop at the edge of the corrector.