I had to wait a whole week for a clear sky with no moon. It was worth it, I'm pretty happy with the results. I set the camera up in the middle of the yard, next time I get all the way out back, more open sky. This is pretty simple to shoot. It takes a little trial and error, but as long as you can get the shutter to stay open long enough you can shoot the stars. You'll need a camera and a tripod, a dark field or yard and of course spectacular skies.
You might think that I posted the same image twice, but the second one I shut the camera off and skipped the high pass that the D50 does to cancel out the hot pixels. Can't tell the difference, don't worry most people won't. Never let them tell you "you can't do it". These are 30 second exposures at f/4.5 at 1600 ISO.
Update:
You can pick out the constellations Corona and Bootes. If your really sharp you'll spot Virgo and Serpens Caput as well.
There are still some places in the world where it is really dark at night. Check out this great video from William Castleman. This is worth seeing at full screen.
Galactic Center of Milky Way Rises over Texas Star Party from William Castleman on Vimeo.
