Tips for the Horse Head

Anyone have any tips for the best viewing of M78?

How dark of a sky?

What is the minimum size Newtonian I can get away with?

How dark do the skies need to be?

Ed

Ed
I have seen the Horsehead, Barnard 33, in 20 inch, 30 inch, and 40 inch Dobs. I have seen it twice in the last week in a 20 inch Starmaster using an H-beta filter from my house, where on really transparent nights the Cygnus rift in the Milky Way is visible. I think really transparent nights are necessary to see the Horsehead. I have seen it without H beta filter in the 40 inch, but I would say to not bother looking for it without an H-beta filter. I cannot answer what the minimum necessary in the way of dark skies is for the Horsehead. Every location I have seen it from is one in which the Milky Way is visible to the naked eye. The H beta will be useful in a smaller aperture wide field scope to see the California nebula in Perseus which is usually visible the same evening as the Horsehead. I would use low power for the Horsehead in the largest aperture scope you have access to. You will find the flame nebula which is very close by much easier to find. I often tell folks who are seeing the Horsehead for the first time to think of a completely black silhouette laid atop an almost black background. When you see the Horsehead you will be glad you've seen it, but you won't be overwhelmed, it is not like your first glimpse of the Orion nebula or anything.
M78 is much easier to find and visualize than the Horsehead. The Horsehead is just below Alnitak, the eastern star of the three in Orion's belt. M78 is above this star.

Well, m78 ain't the horsehead, so that's the first step!

M78 isn't too impressive, but it's not hard in a 6-inch if the skies are moderately dark. It's smallish and pretty much looks like a bit of haze around 2 or 3 stars. One could sweep over it at low power and miss it in less than pristine skies.

The horsehead is a tougher nut to crack. I haven't done it, not that I'm likely to have any luck in a 6-incher. 8 is probably the absolute minimum from what I've read, and pristine skies are necessary to find the small notch against the low-surface brightness background nebula. H-beta filters apparently help a lot.

I have seen it in a 13" without filters.
The sky needs to be dark. If the atmospherics are allowing good structural detail in the nearby Flame Nebula, then it is a good night to try for the Horse Head. Detailed charts of it's field help greatly.

Phil Harrington has seen B33 from the Winter Star Party using a 80mm binocular with H-beta filters attached.

I had a 20 inch Starmaster and a 7 inch refractor set up early this morning. The horsehead was seen nicely in the Starmaster with H-beta filter in 31 Nagler. I took the 31 Nag and H-beta filter over and put it in the 7 inch refractor. With great difficulty I could see the horsehead with averted vision. I would not have seen it if I hadn't had the larger scope to "imprint" its position and orientation on my cortex. I think with my eyes and my skies that more than 7 inches of aperture is needed to convincingly see the horsehead. I did not try the Horsehead without the H-beta filter in the Starmaster. My observing cap is tipped to those who are seeing the Horsehead in modest apertures without a filter.