It can also mean, comments / critiques.

Further more, if you want to make a million bucks with photography start with 2 million.

Camped in a park or boondocking?

Great shots! Thanks, now I'm homesick again.

You pressed the letter "i" (information) press "i" again for a 3 way toggle of different information.

Whoa! That brings back memories of Sunday nights long ago.

Did you, per chance, have your anti shake turned on in the lens? I have screwed up many a shot forgetting to turn that off when on a tripod.

It's good to practice first but the intervalometer is not night dependent, leave the lens cap on and practice in the day. To save the batteries switch your parameters to a 5 second exposure every 35 seconds. As for the star trails, how about we just try for a single good quality shot of the stars first and then expand our horizons.

You used f/8 when you should have been using f/2.8 or the widest aperture your lens allows. Use the 500 rule to acquire sharp stars. 500 divided by the focal length of the lens which in your case is 500/14=35.714 or 36 seconds if using a full frame camera and if using a APS-C first multiply the focal length, in your case a Canon, by 1.6 so 14*1.6=22.4 then the 500 rule 500/22.4=22.321 or 22 seconds.

Try setting your ISO to 1600 at 22 seconds and if the sky comes out too light then shift it back to 800 at 22 seconds which is simply a 1 stop difference and see what that looks like. You want to find a nice balance between dark sky and light stars to save time and effort in post.

All that said, if you truly want star trails then you can leave the shutter open for as long as your batteries and sensor hold out. But, to save your sensor from over heating use shorter times such as 1-2 minutes, f/2.8 and either 200 or 400 ISO, depending on what you think looks good, (note: increasing the shutter speed means lowering the ISO to get equivalent results, decreasing ISO means less noise to deal with) and then stack the results.

Assuming you like the results from 22 seconds at 1600 ISO then;
44 seconds requires 800 ISO
88 seconds (1 min, 28 sec) requires 400 ISO
176 seconds (2 min, 56 sec) requires 200 ISO
At longer times a few seconds over or under will not show any real difference.

Marketing is everything.

The milky way will be visible from NE to SW with the core being in the SW. Not knowing your location means this info is only approximate for the ET zone in NA.

To get sharp points on your stars use a shutter of 20-25 seconds, wide open aperture and an ISO that is high enough but not so high that the noise is unacceptable. Knowing that max is up to your discretion. No you will not see what the camera does as your eyes work like a video, now you see it now it's changed. Your camera on the other hand just keeps letting light onto the sensor.

I suggest for the first time shooting to the SW where your eye "can" see the milky way just not the way the camera does. Good luck and we look forward to seeing the results.

I would concur with PS77 and it would give you all around coverage. That 1.4 TC might come in handy in some instances but that means changing in the field. I did that on a "few" occasions but you do have to pick your times. Have fun and we look forward to some great shots.

Wild, I did notice that to get what I did I had to turn the crap out of the focus knob. I will give the extension a go and see what happens. Thanks for the words of wisdom.

Thanks for the words of encouragement. I assume you are referring to a loop to view the live view screen and not a slide viewer, yes?

At the moment I do have a Barlow but I see no way to connect it to the camera. Is this even an option with a Barlow or Powermate?

2 queries for all you in the know:
1. can I use an extension tube or something to increase (or decrease) the magnification for the camera sensor?
2. can I use live view zoomed in to achieve focus? I did use it last night but the image was rather dark and I opted for using the viewfinder. Normally I use the viewfinder with my glasses on but find using the telescope it's best to take glasses off. Any consensus using a camera with telescope? I suppose I could turn on the auto live view exposure thingy so I can choose a proper exposure, yes?

The skies cleared this evening so I managed to align the scope and then locked on the moon. Then connected the dslr and it took 9 shots to get this soft image. I'm assuming one can't zoom in and out like the eyepieces but can only shoot at the telescopes prime focal length and aperture, correct? Is it the same when I use the CCD camera? Anyway, so looking forward to0 more clear skies to hone in on the focusing skills. Be kind, it's my first time.

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