they are, in fact, short streaks but unless I zoom to 100% in PS you
really don't see it and certainly not at web resolution.

The trick to unguided or untracked astrophotography is to balance the
magnification you use (focal length of the lens) with the exposure and
print size so that the streaks will not be visible in the final image.
When I was doing this many moons ago (it is how I got started in
photography at 14) I found that a 50mm lens (on 35mm film) and a 30 sec
exposure gave a trail small enough I could do decent prints with them
(8x10 was my normal print size in those long distant days :).

So a wideangle lens will let you give a longer exposure before streaking
occurs whilst a telephoto will need a shorter exposure. It also makes a
difference to the length of the streaks whether you are pointing the
camera near to one of the celestial poles (N or S, depending on your
hemisphere and up proportional to your latitude) where there will be
less visible movement or near the celestial equator (roughly where the
moon, sun and planets appear to travel) where the movement will be largest.

Hope that helps.

Cheers,

Wayne

...because of the short focal length lens that was being used.  With a 50mm
lens and pointing at an object on the celectial equator (objects have a
greater angular velocity here), you can get away with around 20 second
exposures without trailing.

The maximum length of time you can expose for is somewhat dependant on where
the camera is pointing. If you are photographing the sky near the celestial
pole, (near the Pole star) then longer exposures can be taken as the stars
move shorter distances for a period of time, where as near the celestial
equator the stars are moving further in the same time span.

At 17 or 28mm, I would think you can get around 45 to 50 seconds without any
apparent star trailing.

All the best,

Tim

Shooting at such a wide angle keeps the streaks rather short. Shooting at
50mm for 30 sec, the stars are a bunch of dash marks.
John

Thanks.

Best advice I can give you is to shoot a lot, shoot anything and
everything, read the camera manual and play, play, play. Also review
everything you shoot. Best here is to use a program where it is easy to
see the image plus camera settings at the same time. See what worked,
what didn't.

What camera did you get?

Cheers,

Wayne