Never occurred to me to even attempt this until I read Allan's recent report of his APM120BT, so on Saturday night I travelled to a very dark site at Kiandra in the Snowy Mountains.
I set up beside the Link Road at the old mining equipment display and waited for the Sun to set.... This place is so very dark, and with the sounds of a pair of howling dingoes in the valley and the noise of a dozen brumbies just 200 metres away, a rather eerie setting when trying to relax at the eyepiece.
Anyway, after the last light faded, I aligned the AZ-EQ6 and set out to view some faint galaxies and other targets before turning the scope to IC434 and the asterism that lines up with the Horse's neck ....
and there it was, a dark patch that was blocking the light of IC434.... no real definition was seen other than a slightly oblong dark patch along the nebula but it was definitely the Horse.
I also spent a couple of hours viewing a list of NGCs, ICs and M objects but once the temperature dropped below freezing I (nursing the flu at the moment) retreated to the ducted heating of the motorhome.....
Great catch with the Bino's Matt. Saw it last night with my 10 inch and an Hb. In the 18 inch can make it out without filters, but the Hb improves the view significantly( actually looks like a horse head). Tried with an 8 inch, but no luck. Usually if the flame neb shows well, the HH will be easier to see.
Ivan
I was pleased with seeing it Ivan, though no detail was possible with the BinoTak.
I saw the HH recently in Allan's 32" SDM and in that you could count the horse's teeth....
I have previously seen it in my previous 18" and also in the TEC MC albeit very faintly.
The binocular is very enjoyable, once I found the HH on Saturday using binocular vision, I tried to see it with just one side of the scope and could no longer see it nor much of the IC434.
I always thought the H-Beta filter is required for the Horsehead nebula rather than the O-III as the latter would in fact filter out crucial wavelengths required to see it. The H-Beta filter is also commonly known as the Horeshead nebula filter.
Ah well done. Many years ago when I lived in Canberra and was more accustomed to the cold I once tried to observe with an 8” at DeadHorse Gap - the saddle above Thredbo - in mid January. Even then it was eye wateringly cold and I didn’t last long with ski gear on.
Another I tried was a resort at Shangri-La, 3,200m in Yunnan far southwest China. This had the most stunning night sky I’ve ever seen and was rather warmer being tropical.