Sub $1K starter question

Even more than in normal photography, technique and knowhow are front and center and actual camera make somewhere near the end. That said, a poster here has shown excellent stuff from a Sony Nex5. You could get a Nex F3 with kit lens and get change back from that 1K for a tracker. The mirrorless cameras (not just the Nex) can take just about any lens made, including excellent and cheap legacy lenses (there are also terrible and cheap legacy lenses so be careful). If you can live with used, get a secondhand Nex3, convert it (replace the protective cover of the CMOS chip) to pass the hydrogen alpha line, and still have $400-500 from that 1K. It will be seriously funky for daytime use, so if the camera has to be general purpose think twice about it, but it would be a killer astrocam. Canon make a version of their 60D called the 60Da with a filter that allows for H-a (not as much as a full conversion but way more than a normal camera) that is also usable for normal conditions, but that one blows your budget ($1500).

Much more important than the specific camera is a way to track the night sky. That can run from under $50 (homebuilt) to $1K. Commercial ones start around $400.

As for lenses, just about any 50mm is good. I don't have much experience with very wide; on the long end the Nikkor 180/2.8 ED is quite good for this purpose. You can get it in manual focus for a very reasonable price if you're careful (make sure it's the ED version). Just keep in mind that the longer the lens, the greater the need for accurate tracking.