Try ISO 6400 Max shutterspeed 12 seconds otherwise you get star trail effects. Aperture 4.0 or lower - DOF is not normally an issue - you are mostly focussing at infinity. White balance around 3300K. Should be much better. Try to get rid of the phone line.
Hi Shirley,
Have you seen the tutorial on Night Photography here at CiC.
Another source of information, ahead of further replies to your question, is the Tag Cloud on astrophotography
Personally, I'm not a night/astro photograper, so I won't try to suggest anything myself.
It would be helpful if you could Edit your Profile and add "Shirley" in the Real Name field and your approx. 'place in the world' ("Western Aus." from memory) in the Location field - I ask only because we prefer addressing people by first name - and knowing where you are helps with things like currency on prices and where you'd buy stuff if ever you need that kind of help.
Hope that helps,
Last edited by Dave Humphries; 24th June 2012 at 03:32 PM.