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I'm going to (uncharacteristically) try and be the voice of reason here. Definitely get the best mount you can get your hands on, but as far as what's "required" for Astrophotography...
I started off with (and still use) an 8" Newtonian on an EQ6 with my DSLR. That's all.
With proper polar alignment I can comfortably take 2 minute exposures without an autoguider. The 1000D is a great DSLR for this type of work, the sensor is low on noise and 10.1mpx is a good size but it's based on the old 400D/450D. So I picked up a 450D cheap on ebay and (with the help of several online tutorials) took it apart and removed the IR filter, I'm also prototyping a TEC Peltier cooling system for it and I just wouldn't feel comfortable doing those kinds of mods to a brand new camera (but that's just my opinion).
So the cool thing about Astrophotography is you can expand your kit as you learn, once you've got a solid mount, an accurately collimated scope and a way of attaching your camera to it then you're ready to get started.
Now that I've got the hang of AP with the equipment I've got, I'm gearing up to start autoguiding and using filters. But I thoroughly recommend learning the basics before spending too much money, mostly because you'll probably end up (doing what I did) buying shiny things that you don't need.
I'm not saying Robert's advice is rubbish, I think it's great advice, and you will definitely need all of those things, but it's possible to start off small especially because you're on a budget.
This picture of M42 consists of about 15 minutes of 2min and 1 min subs.
Modded 450D, unguided. I used 'Backyard EOS' for the capture and camera control and DeepSkyStacker for processing.
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