Is it possible to observe the "Fickle Finger" visually?

[pgc hunter]

Upon seeing recent pics of the world's funniest deep sky object, I've been wondering if it is possible to observe it in a 12" class telescope at high power under good seeing. Based on the pics I've seen, it is only bit smaller than the Homunculus nebula, so size-wise it should be resolvable - as in atleast a dark feature at its location (as I doubt the actual shape would be resolvable). Would there be enough contrast between the offensive gesture and the background nebulosity?

[tornado33]

Id recommend a UHC type filter to increase the contrast for the best chance of seeing it.
Scott

[pgc hunter]

I've got both a UHC and an OIII so no worries about lack of filters etc. I've found that the OIII does a superb job of enhancing the contrast between the nebulosity and the dark 'bays' that line its edge, so I might have a go with that.

[astroron (Ron)]

I spent quite some time over two nights observations of the Eta Carina nebula using a 16"scope,eyepieces from 13mm Nagler140x mag to 6mm Radian 304x mag, with and without a O111 filter .
I used Peter Ward's Very Deep Image and was unable to see the nebula.
It maybe that the nebula may only show up photographically,due to the dimness of the object.
The seeing was good with lots of detail seen in the Homunculus, and surrounding nebulosity