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I have heard the 18 - 55 f3.5-5.5 called a "transparent body cap". In other words, the images are so bad, you might as well not bother with a lens. If you use the 18 - 55 f3.5 - 5.5, expect your stars to be nice big blurly blobs. Actually, the new 18 - 55 IS is suppose to be much better than the old non-IS version.
If you want a 'standard' zoom for astro use, you need either the 17-55 mm f2.8 (RRP is $2000), or the 17 - 40 mm f4 (RRP $1450) or the 16 - 35 mm f2.8L (RRP $2960). If you shop around, you can get these for 30 or so less than the RRP.
If you don't want to spend lots of money, then get the 18 - 55 IS f3.5 - 5.5 or the (much better) sigma and use them for happy snaps and holiday photos AND get a 50 mm f1.8 for about $130. The lens construction is crap - all plastic - and the autofocus is slow and noisy, but the optics are very good. Or an alternative would be the more expensive 50 or 60 mm macro - they are VERY sharp lenses, or the 50 f1.4. Other alternatives are the 35 mm f2 or the 28 f2.8 which are about $400 and $300. Or the 85 mm f1.8 for about $500.
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