Darren,
Start out simply by taking shots of the stars with a camera (preferably an SLR). A digital camera like the Canon EOS 300D or 350D will make things easier as you can download the images directly into your PC (otherwise you'd have to have your slides/negatives scanned). For wide-angle lenses (18mm for digital cameras, 24-28mm for film SLRs), keep your shots to under 30s to prevent getting star trails. Times will be correspondingly shorter for 50mm and telephoto lenses. Shoot for longer if what you want to get is a star trail picture. Depending on how light-polluted your skies are, you can shoot for up to 5 minutes (use the Bulb setting on the camera and a cable release) before sky glow burns out the background stars.
With the like of Registax (
registax.astronomy.net/
) or Registar (
www.aurigaimaging.com/
) you can auto-align and stack images to emulate a single long exposure.
Depending on your local light pollution, it might be worth investing in a 2" Skyglow filter and an adapter ring to allow it to be mounted on your lens.
If you don't (or won't) have a scope that automatically tracks the stars, with a little DIY, you can build a Barndoor tracker that will let you take exposures several minutes long before star trailing becomes a problem. Plans for one are listed at:
www.philharrington.net/scotch.htm
If you're planning to do astrophotography with your telescope, you can get good shots of the Moon by hooking your camera up at the eyepiece end using various adapters. You will need to have a scope that tracks the sky if you want to do any kind of serious work though, even for the Moon. There's always the option of piggybacking your camera on your driven telescope. If your drive is inaccurate for any reason, photos taken this way will be more forgiving than those take with the camera mounted in place of an eyepiece.
Get yourself a webcam such as a Toucam (pretty much any webcam will do but others here will be able to provide specific recommendations). It's a cheap way to get into electronic imaging. They go in place of the eyepiece. Registax was designed to be used with images from these kinds of cameras and some brilliant images have been taken over the last few years.
If you have a digital SLR, you can mount that at the eyepiece end and turn the scope into a super-telephoto lens. Good tracking is essential to avoid blobby or mis-shapen stars. The same holds true for dedicated CCD cameras such as those from Starlight Xpress or SBIG.
I haven't had the opportunity to take images myself for a while now due to various circumstances, but my best efforts are on this page:
www.nightskyobserver.com/astrophotography.php
Hope I've at least pointed you in the right direction!
Cheers,
Gary.
  