pbyrne

I've only ever seen greys and a faint hint of green in nebulae. The Blue Snowball planetary in Andromeda does show a hint of blue, but I found it very subtle.

For colours look at the stars.

Having recently picked up a 12" Orion dob it's hard to imagine how big it is, the tube weights in at 50lbs and the base at 35lbs. Assembled it stands as tall as me, about 5'10" so it's not a single movement scope in terms of scope and base at the same time. With an instrument this size one thing to consider is where is it going to be stored? Moving a tube weighting 50lbs and about 5' in length up and down stairs will quickly become tiresome.

I agree with acey, if this is your first scope then go for the 8", get to know the sky and then in a year or two move on up.

Paul