New 40D and shooting stars?

I'll be taking a trip to Death Valley this coming week, don't ask why, I got no idea. But, I want to shoot at night with my new 40D. And I could really use some tips from some veterans. I really want to get some shots that will make it worth braving the 120 degreee heat. Motion shots, shots capturing the stars, I don't know. Anything that can help me?

It's slated to be a new moon, so the stars should be BRIGHT!

Bring a tripod and set your ss to bulb if you have a remote and experiment. You might need toget a ND filter if you want motion in the stars.

I have all that stuff. Was just looking for tips for maybe catching stars without them moving. I realize moving stars my exposure will be LONG, 30-40 minutes I would assume?

It really only takes about 1 minute to start getting trails from the stars. Shot with the lowest possible ISO. But because the ambient temp will be so high you can expect the sensor to get hot during the exposure. This will give you a little more noise. Rather than staying up late you may want to think about getting up real early. The coolest part of the day will be around 3:00 a.m when it is around 85 degrees.

Get the north star in the view and you will get the circular type of star trails. Without it they will be mostly straight.

Here's what you can expect from ISO 400, f/4, 64 seconds.
Perseids 2007