I'm amazed at all those who's seem to start their 1st astro photo on $5000 equipment! Is it in the spirit of this thread though
My first astro pic taken through a 0.96" lens on a typical toy/camera store telescope. I think it was something made by Vanguard I forget the exact model 900x70 maybe. Single frame made with a Casio QV-2900UX camera held up to the lens. Mars, Jupiter, Saturn were all too hard to photo though this scope beause it needed a hig power lens and the thing wobbled real good and the camera was hand held. So I didn't keep it long.