Star photograph with PowerShot SX20 IS?

Looking for any advice about how to best do some star photography with Canon PowerShot SX20IS. I'm about to try some test shots of the big dipper when it gets a bit darker and would like some input as to settings.

Have you had a look at https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=766644 ?
It's a good read and has some very useful tips

15- 30 second exposure, lowest f stop that you can. Highest ISO without too much noise. Adjust for best results.

I've got that Deep Sky Stacker software, it's not real intuitive how to use it. Thanks for the link, I'll give it another try.

Not meaning to hijack this thread, but this is my first successfull stacking of star images. I took two shots that look like this:

Biffbradford wrote in post #10860677
Not meaning to hijack this thread, but this is my first successfull stacking of star images. I took two shots that look like this:

<snip>

WHOA!

WHOA! indeed. Can you let me know what settings you were using in DSS? I can't achieve anything like this result from my shots. Alternatively, any chance of linking to the original two images so that I could download them and try to replicate?

Thanks for the link martyn. I will check it out. I would love to try the stacking technique to get more of the Milky Way. Is the DSS easy to use or is there one geared more toward a beginnner? I am just beginning in the hobby and usually just shoot animals and scenes. Astro is new for me and the photos I posted were based on research I did online before attempting. I'm not interested in star trails (not yet anyway)...just drawing more of the Milky Way out of my shots.

Dave