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Hi there,
I'm certainly no whizz but I understand your concerns. Firstly the picture on Page 65 you refer to is "similar to the area an 8" scope would show" etc, not the same as what you would see through an 8" scope. I would venture to say that image was done with a camera/imaging. You won't see those colours in a planetary nebula with your eyes.
When I first got my 10" dob I was rather dissolutioned by what I could (or could not) see. I had built expectations based on web-based descriptions of people's experiences (not on glossy pictures), and found my views didn't match. One of the things people say is that you learn to view over time, and I think that is true. I see much more a few years on than I did at first. There are a few other things that factor in however. The 'seeing' is very relevant so if you have picked a bad night, that's unfortunate and you might not know a bad night when you see one at this stage. Cooling the scope is also super important and I believe SCT's take longer than newts. Canberra has big differences between day/night temps (I know, I live nearby), which can require more cooling. I had the experience of taking my scope in the car a week ago to show some others the views and it got heated up a bit. The subsequent views of Jupiter were appalling and disappointing. The bands were visible but I couldn't focus. On a good night I can see the great red spot and shadows of a passing moon and even swirls in the bands, but the image is pretty small. You won't be filling the eyepiece with a wondrous image of Jupiter, but you should be able to see a small wondrous image.
I'm sure other will add their thoughts.
Bruce
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