Seeking astrophotography help

[Arsonist lolol]

I've been looking into astrophotography a lot lately, and seeing this post (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=55497) made me want to go try it. I went out tonight with my Drebel, I decided to use my 75-300 III USM lens because I didn't get very good results with my 18-55. However I still get a lot of blur with the 75-300. I found Orion's Belt and thought I'd take some shots of it, I wasn't going to attach any files, but I figured maybe you all could find something I did wrong from the way it looks (obviously blurred) . From what i've read, people use remotes for this (makes sense, because I guess you need like...a 4 minute shutter speed sometimes?) Well I don't have a remote :( So what I used was:
30 Second Shutter
400 ISO
f/ 5.6
1 Second Mirror Lockup
Tripod


I'm VERY new to this type of photography, and somewhat new to photography in general, so any tips are obviously welcomed. I'm sure this can be done without a remote, and with a Drebel, so I'm thinking it's either my choice of glass, the f/5.6, or the 30 second shutter. :rolleyes:

[RockOne]

The blur is caused by the rotation of the earth- On long exposures the movement of the earth causes the stars to streak. The longer the exposures, the longer the streaks. Long focal lengths add to the problem, because it magnifies the movement.
To get pinpoint stars you need to be able to track the camera at the same rate as the stars are moving. There are a few ways to do this, but I don't think any of them are cheap.

[pcasciola]

If you're feeling really motivated, you can build one of these barndoor tracking devices for around $50 or less.

http://www.astronomyboy.com/barndoor/index.html

[Arsonist lolol]

Thank you both for the tips, I had a feeling the blur could be from the Earth's movement, but then I secondguessed myself when i saw 4 minute shutter speeds....but yeah, a tracking device would help that.

I'll check out that barndoor one, thanks a lot :)