The Horse Head Nebula is in Orion, just south of the left-most "belt star."   Here's a wide angle shot of the constellation Orion, showing the "belt" and "sword" stars.

Let's zoom in on the belt star region.

This black and white image is a 2.7x zoom, showingonly  the "belt" and "sword" stars. Notice the nebulosity to the left of the left-most belt star.  This isn't the Horse Head Nebula, but it's close by.  [SBIG ST-8E CCD, Nikon telephoto lens, 70 mm FL, f/5.6; 2002.04.02; mountain site north of Santa Barbara, CA, 3400 feet ASL]

This 3x zoom shows the nebulosity to the left of the left-most belt star.  Look below that star, and you'll see a faint outline of the Horse Head Nebula.  [SBIG ST-8E CCD, Nikon telephoto lens, 290 mm FL, f/6.3; 2002.04.02; mountain site north of Santa Barbara, CA, 3400 feet ASL]

Zooming in by a factor of 14 shows only the Horse Head Nebula region.  This actually is my first attempt at imaging the nebula.  Image width is ~13'arc.  North is up.  Most presentations are rotated 90 degrees CCW so the dark nebula shape resembles a horse's head looking left (in this presentation the head is looking up). [Meade LX200 10-inch SCT, 616 color filter wheel, 416XTE CCD; 13 20-sec clear filter iamges, two 20-sec red , green and blue images, combined using RGBL; Santa Barbara residence, 2001.11.14/15]

This site opened:  November 15, 2001.  Last Update:  May 1, 2001