I'm no photographer

I hired out a digital SLR from the Uni store to take my photos, but unfortunately they didn't turn out too great, so I have booked a better camera in order to see if I can take at least a half decent photograph of the sky next weekend. I'm not too disappointed because I half expected every picture to come out plain black and for no stars to be visible at all. I am also going to experiment with the time I take the pictures at, these photos were taken when it was pitch black but I think I will get a better result if I take them at dusk and dawn when the sky is a bit lighter.