A Visual Obervation Of Horse Head Nebula.

[anthony.tony]

Hello There has any body Observed the Horse Head Nebula Visually .I have Imaged it wth Canon 350D.I have Viewed it Live on CRT Monitor with the Gstar camera It was pretty faint but I could make the B-33 out.But I want to have a serious try at viewing it in a 12 inch Dob. Reguard's Tony.

[glenc]

It is very difficult with a 12" Dob, but parts can be seen with high power. I have seen it well with a 25".

[Paddy]

I have tried long and hard with my 12" under dark skies with absolutely no success. I would also like to know if anyone has done it.

[astroboy]

Hi Tony
Should be visable with a 12" and a H beta filter without too much trouble , if you don't have a H beta filter , try a UHC or similar which will help a lot ( OIII is no good ).
Knowning exactly where to look is a big help , my first viewing I used a photo at the telescope to find it , look for a dark lump in front of a ribbon of dark grey.
If you cant see the flame nebula don't bother the HH is a least twice as difficult.
Through the 24" and a Hb its not difficult at all

Zane

[ausastronomer]

Hi,

I have observed it on numerous occasions in my 18" Obsession. Even in that scope I don't waste my time chasing it unless the skies are very good. A H-Beta filter helps enormously and a UHC filter whilst not as good as the H-Beta, helps a lot. A trick also to seeing it is to just push Alnitak out of the FOV as the glare reduces the contrast. Despite the fact that I find it fairly easy in the 18" scope under dark skies, it is not necessarily an easy target in this scope for some. I have had it centered perfectly in the field of view yet other experienced observers have failed to see it. The reason is that the background emission nebula (IC434) emits most of its light near the red end of the visible spectrum. Hence, people whose eyes are less sensitive to red light will not see it.

Do not confuse the Horsehead with the Flame Nebula (NGC 2024). It is nearby and many people make this mistake. The Flame is a little easier to see than the Horsehead, hence it is wise to try for the Flame first. If you can't see the Flame you are wasting your time trying for the Horsehead under the prevailing conditions. An eyepiece giving about a 4mm exit pupil is a good choice as this seems to provide the right contrast balance.

Here is a good image of the field.

http://www.astrocruise.com/milky_way/HH_0712.htm

That all having been said, it is an exceedingly difficult target to see in scopes less than about 14" aperture. It is doable in a 12". I have observed it from Coonabarabran in my 10" dob with a UHC filter on one occasion, from countless attempts at dark sky locations. In Andrew Murrell's 25" Obsession it is a routine find, with or without filter. If you just want to say "I saw the Horsehead", without going through the thrill of the hunt, find someone with a 25" scope.

Cheers,
John B

[Sentinel]

The horsehead is visible in my 13 inch without a filter...But only from rural skies.

I have never seen it from semi-rural skies. Contrast is the key, any hint of light pollution or moonlight you are not going to see it without even more aperture.

[Stephen65]

I've seen it twice with a 14" using a Zeiss 25mm mono EP and either a UHC or Hb filter. They were both at a dark sky site with nights of excellent transparency.

[§AB]

I have seen it with an 18" obsession under dark skies, with the HB filter in place it was easy as! A superb view it was.

The previous owner of my 12" has seen it with the 12" scope, but you NEED dark skies. Light pollution will kill the thing.

[Rodstar]

I must admit that I am yet to make it out clearly, despite a number of attempts.

I did see something of a hint of it in a 20" dob three years ago at SPSP.

I have only tried to see it in average seeing conditions under rural skies without a filter with the Mary Rose, and it has proven elusive thus far. Perhaps this year at SPSP if someone will lend me an H Beta filter.

[Matty P]

I have attempted to observe the Horse Head Nebula with my 8" scope but have had no luck. It really helps to know what to look for.

I did have a glimpse of it when trying to image it with my CCD camera. I caught a small amount of nebulosity but no horse head.

[anthony.tony]

Thes are 2 images taken with the Gstar with 0.6 focal reducer attached too a 8 inch F4 reflector on a EQ6 mount. I stacked some frames in registax. and did some processing in CS3. They are not very good but it shows the faint B-33. Tony. These were shot in town so I had a good bit of Light polution to deal with .

[GrahamL]

I think its probably doable in your 12 " Tony..from a dark site and good seeing (not something that always comes together anyway).

The flame is usually fairly easy to see from my backyard, no filters.
a couple of weeks back seeing was great for a short time .
NGC 2024 was better than i had ever seen it ..while I couldn't make out the
horse head the dark lane along the edge of IC434 was very easy to see
and if I had a clue of actual size of the object and its location in the field at the time??.. who knows ..since that night the flame is still easy to spot but its nowhere near as clear as that one night ...and any hint of IC434 is not possible for now.

I have since taken delivery of a couple of new filters ..if that dosn't work ..its build a bigger scope :P:D

[skwinty]

Ive only seen a glimpse of ic434 with my 12" Newtonian, dark sky, Hb filter and very averted vision.
Was a big thrill:)

[anthony.tony]

I had a good look at the Flame At our dark sky site near Parkes. I used my 12 inch dob and Cris Toohey lent me His Ethos eyepiece. It was a baeutiful sight in that.We hunted around For B-33 but could not pick anything up. Tony.

[Kevnool]

With a 10" lightbridge way out on the SA/NSW border with no background light at all, and with the hydrogen beta filter it was there really standing out.....but will have to wait till xmas time to do it all again

[Satchmo]

Clean optics and really transparent skies are a must. Gordon Garradd and I observed it in a freshly aluminised 6" F4 Newt at Mt Kaputar in 1984. We were encouraged to look as Walter Scott Housten had logged it with a 4" F5 RFT refractor. I remember Galaxy M33 in Triangulam being very obvious naked eye on the night, so the skies were exceptional. I detected it at the last IIS astrocamp in the 12" F5 binocular without filters but couldn't make out any shape. The best view is at least an 18" with HBeta filter.

[ngcles]

Hi All,

I've been watching this thread closely because I'm greatly interested in hearing what others have to say on this issue.

The smallest aperture I've personally seen the horsehead in was my old 25cm f/6 -- and it was a testing observation, but several others confirmed it at the same time. I used 26mm and 17mm Televue plossls at x56 and x86 initially with a Lumicon UHC filter, but also saw it unfiltered in both eyepieces. It was a very good rural sky at Mudgee NSW with a ZLM of about 6.4-6.5 and the mirrors had just been washed the previous day.

I believe to see it in that sort of aperture range (20-25cm) -- or less like Mark (Satchmo) has (see above) takes (1) a very dark transparent sky (ZLM better than 6.4-6.5) _and_ (2) equally importantly, an experienced observer.

I remember on the night that experienced observers (like Steve Lee, Gary Miitchell) had no more difficulty than I did in seeing it, while some spent a looooong time at the eyepiece before they too claimed they were able to see it and a few others -- all of whom were relatively inexperienced, spent a time, shrugged their shoulders and said no.

Steven Lee claims the Horsehead in a 6" f/5 too (unfiltered), but he was observing from Siding Spring mountain !

Even in 30cm it is still a difficult target and I think I saw it no more than a few times in that 'scope always at a top quality site with a UHC.

No 'scope at all, no matter what the aperture will see it in suburbia I'd reckon.

A H-Beta filter is best in large 'scopes and with it in the 18" the Horsehead is a pretty simple direct-vision target at a good rural site. A UHC filter is also helpful but not as good as H-Beta because it has a wider band-pass.

However, because the H-Beta blocks so much light, it is really only useful on the horsehead in apertures about 35cm and above. I can't prove it, but my gut-feeling says that in less than about 35cm the H-Beta blocks too much light -- in which case better off with a UHC in apertures down to about 20cm. As Zane has noted, an OIII in any aperture is a hinderence.

I am very, very interested in gathering some people's impressions of what they saw with what 'scope, and in what conditions, filters, magnification, observer's experience level etc etc. If you've got an observation please PM me, or email me at the address in AS&T at the bottom of my column. Negative observations are encouraged as much as positive sightings.

Best,

Les D
Contributing Editor
AS&T

[anthony.tony]

Thanks to everyone so far for their input into Observations of The Horsehead. I am learning from your Experiences. Tony

[glenc]

I saw the horse head last night with a new 21mm EP (70X, 30' field) and a UHC filter using the 12" dob. It was by averted vision and the the shape was not distinct. It was only 50 degrees above the horizon so that didn't help.

[anthony.tony]

Hello what brand and make was the eyepiece .reguard's tony

[AstralTraveller]

About 20 years ago, when I had young eyes, I saw the Horsehead Nebula in a 20cm newt at the ASWA astrocamp at Dryandra (sp?) without a filter. We started by viewing it through a 30cm newt, in which it was very obvious, and then progressed through a 25cm to the 20cm. Some observers could not see it in the 20cm while a couple of (optimistic?) observers reported seeing it in a 15cm schmidt-newt. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have seen it in the 20cm if I hadn't just seen it in a larger scope.

The skies out there have a very good reputation and that was certainly the case that night. I've tried in a 33cm from outside Wollongong but had no success. I agree that contrast, both in the sky and in the scope, is crucial.

[Karlsson]

Dug around in my observation records, and I found 26 Feb 2000 in Tabangao, Philippines, around 19:20, when B33 was just past culmination (73° Alt). What little lights there were were out: blackout....
-Black sky, a little haze, seeing 3/5
-scope 200mm f/6 Newtonian
-Vixen Lanthanum 15mm EP (80x, 38' TFoV) -
I saw a darkish patch in the right place, with averted vision, but ONLY after my son (13) had told me how and where to look - roles reversed for the first time...:)
I could not see the distinct shape. It was smaller than I expected; some effort to keep HD37903 out of the FoV. LPR filter was of little use.

I also found records of two earlier attempts that had been unsuccessful.

At the end of the day it's all a bit moot I reckon - if indeed I did see it I don't think I would claim that I observed it...

[glenc]

Tony it was a 21mm Orion Stratus. I also saw it again last night with a 8mm Baader Hyperion on the 12" Dob, but it was better with the 21mm.

[ausastronomer]

4mm exit pupil thats why.

I have found that a 4mm exit pupil, or thereabouts, provides the best contrast balance for observing the Horsehead. Thus ANY 1/2 decent 20mm eyepiece is a good choice in an F5 scope. Conversely if your scope is an F8 to F10 SCT or long tube reflector you will need a 30mm to 40mm eyepiece. In addition, any filters you are likely to use to try observing the horsehead deliver optimium performance with a 3mm to 5mm exit pupil.

Cheers,
John B