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Haha. This reminds me of a Redditor's story. Despite having no money to afford professional hardware, he still managed to take good astronomy photos using his phone. In one of his posts, his photos impressed a "kind stranger" so much that they gifted him one of the most expensive Reddit awards, whose value can buy him a third of his desired gear.

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haha, oh man

(For context: Reddit awards don't give the recipient anything except the ability to browse Reddit without any banner ads, and access to a special forum. If you make a big Reddit donation to someone, you're actually donating to Conde Nast, Spez, etc)

pretty sure the most expensive reddit award is worth $120, which isn't a down-payment on an equatorial drive. It might pay for 1/3 of an IR conversion on an existing DSLR camera, maybe.

professional astronomy photos is an activity where the low end starts very expensive. Basic setups are in the thousands of dollars.

If you are imaging bright objects like planets or the moon, you don't need an equatorial drive. Especially if you are using a "fast" telescope.

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