Horsehead nebula?

The other night it was a pretty clear moonless night. I live in suburban Toronto and could roughly count 200-300 stars and see 3 stars of ursa minor. I used a well cooled SCT 8" and Orion was rising in the southeast at around midnight. I could easily find M42-43. I found Alnitak (the southern most star in the belt) and scanned carefully a few degrees to the west for the horsehead. Is it just too dim to see in an average 8" with no filter in the burbs(I know it is one of the harder Messier's to see)?

thanks howard

I just barely made it out last night with my astro clubs 16" Ritchey - Chretien, H-beta filter and 26mm Nag under dark skies. And it was BARELY visible. Sorry to inform you but your chances of seeing it with your current equipment/ location are about the same as winning the lottery.

There aren't any globules in other emission nebulae (e.g. the rosette)that are more interesting visually than the horsehead? The horsehead it quite a sight on photographs, but visually it gets more attention than it deserves in my opinion.

I had several nights on vacation in Greece that I could easily (without averted vision) see the Flame Nebula and the dark lane(s) crossing it. There was quite some detail. Seeing conditions were excellent. On some moments I thought I also got a glimpse of the IC 434 complex, B33 was invisible which is not surprising as I was viewing with an ETX-105. Yet I was very surprised to see the Nebulae surrounding it and I did had the feeling if I had my 8"f4 at hand I could have seen it.
Nico