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mathteacher
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 05/13/07
Posts: 1700
Loc: SF Bay Area
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I found this article very interesting. It's about viewing the Horsehead with the smallest possible aperture. The author describes how to get the most out of your equipment, your location and most importantly, your eyes. I'm inspired by this article to push the limits of my equipment. 
link
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Regards, Mr. Wang . . . . . . . My gallery
CR 150-HD - The Hammer, Vixen ED100sf - The Skipper, Orion ST80 - The Pug, Orion 7x50 Scenix
Meade DSI Color, Vixen Porta Mount, Vixen Super Polaris, 2" pipe mount
Please join the International Dark Sky Association
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nytecam
Postmaster
Reged: 08/20/05
Posts: 5402
Loc: London UK
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Thanks for the very interesting link it's certainly a tough visual target and on reading-on to note the long photofilm exposure needed in the '80s - there's no chance from here visually [LP London suburbs] but a few seconds CCD exposure reveals the HH form in virtually realtime download - see "ETX-70 'sees' Horsehead Neb" under ETX Forum 
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Nytecam 51N 0.1W
Meade 30cm LX200+ETX-70+DS-2090+C8+Ha+CaK PSTs SBIG SGS+homebuilt spectrographs
Starlight SXVF_M9/Lodestar/Canon 300D DSLR/Fuji E550
My observatory build-ETX-70 imaging-my videos
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David Knisely
Postmaster
Reged: 04/19/04
Posts: 7542
Loc: Beatrice, Nebraska
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Quote:
I found this article very interesting. It's about viewing the Horsehead with the smallest possible aperture. The author describes how to get the most out of your equipment, your location and most importantly, your eyes. I'm inspired by this article to push the limits of my equipment.
link
Yes, you should always push yourself, but remember that not everyone can see to the faint limits required for viewing the Horsehead in a small scope. I have managed to just barely see the nebula in my 100mm f/6 refractor at 25x using the Lumicon H-Beta, but it was very marginal. I might suggest that those who really want to see it for the first time try at least six inches of aperture (and preferably somewhat more), and use the H-Beta filter. With that combination, on a decent dark night, a person might have a halfway decent chance of catching it at low power as a vague small dark gap in the eastern side of IC 434. Clear skies to you.
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David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info
Edited by David Knisely (12/19/07 05:17 PM)
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loo27
professor emeritus
Reged: 09/30/04
Posts: 500
Loc: GA
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An intereresting thing about the Horsehead is the part that looks like a horse head is tiny, most of the nebula looks like a sheet. I saw it once, but didn't realize what I was looking at, and failed to observe the horsehead because I didn't look for it! That was the only night I had a chance at it. Other nights, I don't even see the sheet.
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Cliff
C10-N/CG-5GT
Tomlin Industries 6" f/6 Newtonian
C4-R
50mm binos
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blb
member
Reged: 11/25/05
Posts: 77
Loc: Piedmont NC
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Thats What I did. I was so excited to finaly see IC-434 that I failed to look for the Horse Head.  I have kicked myself since then because thats the only time I have seen the nebula.
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C-11, C-6, XT10i Dob, ETX125PE, TV102, & AT66
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Starman1
Vendor - Scope City
Reged: 06/24/03
Posts: 11749
Loc: Los Angeles
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My personal smallest aperture to see the Horsehead (B33) was in a pair of 150mm binoculars at 25X.
It stood out quite well as a small black rounded notch in IC434.
I never saw it in a telescope under 12", though I know that others have. I tried for 11 years in my 8", but never found it.
My normal dark site has skies of 21.4-21.5mpsas. Perhaps if that last half magnitude of light pollution were removed.......
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Don Pensack
12.5" Truss Dob, 5" Maksutov, Fujinon Binos
Sustaining Lifetime IDA member
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David Knisely
Postmaster
Reged: 04/19/04
Posts: 7542
Loc: Beatrice, Nebraska
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I recall my first "definitive" view of the Horsehead came in my old 8 inch f/7 in the early 1980's. I had been "introduced" by a friend to the "new" Lumicon UHC filter, and with the great night we had, I did manage to coax the Horsehead out in that scope with the filter. It was rather marginal (sort of a small vague darkening of the sky background), but now that I had seen it, I knew about what to look for. Years later, I tried the H-Beta and found it to be a better filter for that nebula, although I still could frequently see it in the UHC as well. A month or so ago, I had the DGM NPB filter in my 9.25 inch SCT and had the scope slewing to the Horsehead but forgot to put in the H-Beta. To my surprise, the Horsehead was very nearly as good in the NPB as it had been in the H-Beta! That NPB filter still continues to surprise me. Clear skies to you.
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David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info
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Ptarmigan
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 09/23/04
Posts: 2093
Loc: Arctic
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I have always tried seeing the Horsehead Nebula, but to no avail. It is truly a challenge. You need dark sky and a filter helps. Horsehead Nebula is truly challenging besides S147 and California Nebula.
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Ptarmigans=Cute and Cuddly
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