Horse Head Bagged

[Zubenel (Wes)]

With the Assistance of Ron Knight from the Cambroon Observatory using his 21mm Televue Plossl & H Beta Filter I managed to view IC434 and the Horse Head Nebula through my 10" F5 Dob . Seeing was good and transparency was very good. Timely , as it is the current image of the week.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151390795281203&se t=a.10151378780201203.534239.114571 796202&type=3&theater

[mozzie (Peter)]

well done wes..iv'e spotted it but it took many attemps and it sure looks nothing like the photo's you see...

[Zubenel (Wes)]

Thanks Ron for another great night.

[astroron (Ron)]

Glad to help you get to see it Wes

When I first observed the Horse head in the 16" with the 30 mm Celestron Ultima eyepiece and the H Beta filter it was like looking at a black and white image of it, it really did stand out.
It was the best view of it I have ever had.
The 21mm plossl made the horse head bigger, but the best view for me was the 30mm
Cheers

[Zubenel (Wes)]

Yes Peter , I agree. The "Horse Head looked more like a front Silhouette of a person's head . I couldn't discern the "Nose" of the horse. The 2 "Stars"at right angles to the Emission Neb and just above to the left on my FOV was a great help. Low to medium power wide field , worked the best...

[Liz]

Great news Wes, still one I havent nabbed.

Memories of when I last saw you ..... Mt Carbine Cemetery!!!

[mozzie (Peter)]

i was with mike i think at wiruna or iisac and he could see it without a filter in my 12"lx90..bugger me i had no idea what i was looking at could'nt see a horse at all..that was about 5 years ago.

[Zubenel (Wes)]

Thanks Liz , It's also good to leave some of those bucket list DSO's "undiscovered" to maintain some mystery of our past time, although this may sound a little hypocritical .............. Can't say I have ever observed in a cemetery!!!! Can't say that was on the bucket list either

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Congratulations

[madbadgalaxyman (Robert)]

I am pleased when I hear that people were able to clearly see the outline of the Horsehead.

It sounds like the H-beta filter actually does work on this object.

I have never tried using this filter myself;
but I can definitely say that even when I was in my prime for visual sensitivity at low light levels (when I was in my 20s) and I was regularly visually observing with a 10inch F4 Newt. under dark skies, the most I could usually see in dark sky conditions was a vague area where the sky looked a little more dark than the dark sky around it.

I could see the dark nebula here, but only as a slightly darker patch of sky than the dark sky around it! Seeing the Horsehead, unfiltered, was like comparing blacks with blacks, rather than seeing grayscale!
In unfiltered visual observations, there was never enough contrast between the Horsehead and the vanishingly faint surrounding nebulosity, to see the dark nebula clearly.

The Horsehead must be an extremely difficult object to see without a filter, because in those days I could easily see the brightest portion of Barnard's Loop in 10x50 binoculars, and I was able to see with the telescope some internal structure within the very-low-surface-brightness Barnard's Galaxy...... so when I was trying to see the Horsehead without a filter, I am quite certain that there was nothing wrong with my visual sensitivity and nothing wrong with my observing technique.

cheers, Robert

I never did try to see the Horsehead when the sky conditions were at their absolutely most perfect (dark and transparent)....because under these perfect conditions I always spent all of my time looking for internal details within galaxies. More exciting to see multiple HII regions and some dark lanes, within another galaxy, than a single small dark nebula in our own Galaxy!

[Liz]

Originally Posted by Zubenel

Thanks Liz , It's also good to leave some of those bucket list DSO's "undiscovered" to maintain some mystery of our past time, although this may sound a little hypocritical .............. Can't say I have ever observed in a cemetery!!!! Can't say that was on the bucket list either

Oops, sorry - thought you were up at Mt Carbine with us, must be confused .... again.

[Satchmo]

Originally Posted by madbadgalaxyman

I have never tried using this filter myself;
but I can definitely say that even when I was in my prime for visual sensitivity at low light levels (when I was in my 20s) and I was regularly visually observing with a 10inch F4 Newt. under dark skies, the most I could usually see in dark sky conditions was a vague area where the sky looked a little more dark than the dark sky around it.

I concur with your observation - its more about young eyes and transparency. At age 25 I saw it clearly without filter with Gordon Garradds 6" F4 Newt and Nagler 13 under pristine skies at Mt Kaputar that had a level of transparency I never saw again. Galaxy M33 in Triangulum was a clear large hazy patch with naked eye at the time and the Andromeda galaxy probably subtended 1/2 degree also.

[Barrykgerdes]

I tried to get the HH at Wiruna last season but spent half an hour gazing in the wrong place I later found out. However I did get the Flame without a filter which is also difficult because of its proximity to Alnitak that swamps it.
16" lightbridge.

Barry

[madbadgalaxyman (Robert)]

Originally Posted by Satchmo

I concur with your observation - its more about young eyes and transparency. At age 25 I saw it clearly without filter with Gordon Garradds 6" F4 Newt and Nagler 13 under pristine skies at Mt Kaputar that had a level of transparency I never saw again.

Good observation, Mark!

There is always "that memorable perfect night" when we see more than we ever thought we would see.

Your observation brings back youthful memories of observation nights when young eyes allowed us to make boasts such as "no nebula can escape from me and my OIII filter!"

Best regards,
Robert L

[Zubenel (Wes)]

Firstly apologies to Liz. I meant to say ... Can't say I HAD ever observed in a cemetery!!!! Please read Past tense !!Sorry . We had a lovely time with you all. With Glen and his little refractor and Levi sitting on the grave playing his DS !! TO madbadgalaxyman , what a lovely recounting of a younger time. Your eye's may of seen better days but your memory has not Visual observing may not produce pictures of glorious colorful deep space vista's like the Horse Head complex however it will forever hold the wonder of the hunt ,the witness of the photon's end of journey and the journey of our own minds...................