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Hi Kyle,
You can certainly take some great images with the D40 and camera lenses. I've been using the D80 for over a year now and have been very happy. Just mount the camera on a good tripod (or rock) and take some long exposures of the sky (say 30 seconds). Keep the apeture fairly open and play with the ISO settings. This is the best way to image a planetary conjunction for example where you need a wide field. The colours of the sunrise/set also come out beautifully using a long exposure even when the sky appears really dark.
Be aware that the D80 is far less sensitive than the Canon gear. I assume this is also true of the D40. They are not ideal deep space imaging cameras.
Also be aware that essentially all digital SLRs include an infra-red block filter that also blocks the hydrogen alpha band: the main emmission line from nebula. Without modification to remove/change this filter, DSLRs are not sensitive to the main emmission from nebula.
In my view, the most important piece of equipment for astrophotography is the mount. The bigger and more stable, the better. People get great results with small scopes mounted on huge mounts. You don't need a GOTO mount but you do need one that is sufficiently computerised to allow automatic guide corrections. It needs an autoguide port.
Anyway, hope this helps.
Have fun,
Doug
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