[fluxquanta]

If you have an iPhone the PhotoPills app [0] will help with steps 1 and 3 (and in a lot of other photography situations as well). I found it to be worth the money. That said, my Milky Way shots pale in comparison to yours (but my excuse is that I'm still working with a relatively cheap APS-C camera).

[0] http://www.photopills.com/

[4ad]

Thanks for the reference. There are a zillion photo apps, and a zillion paid reviews; it's really hard to get good info on what's worth it and what's not, so I tend to lean on people who recommend something naturally as part of a larger discussion.