I got it! I built my rig with the flash, and I am fully satisfied with the results! Ignore the crap I posted above with the backlight. ;-) The stars show up when there are bright areas too. Here are some samples:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/64lqdc
http://www.sendspace.com/file/5hpu8j
Now, I can fly through the scanning process! :-)