How to Find the Orion Nebula
- 1). Face the night's sky south to southeast to find the Orion constellation on the horizon. While between 7 and 8 p.m. is the best time to find the nebula and the constellation of Orion, you can see it later at night as well by looking a bit higher and further to the south. Orion is the easiest constellation to find at night, as it is marked by three of the brightest stars in a row, which form his belt.
- 2). Find Orion's belt and then look carefully just below the belt to see a line of vertical stars which make up Orion's sword.
- 3). Locate the middle of the line of stars that make up Orion's sword and look carefully for a bright object which does not quite look the same as a star. This is the Orion nebula.
- 4). Use a pair of binoculars to better see the nebula, or use a telescope set to 40x magnification. Always start with a lower magnification and then gradually increase, as the Orion nebula is extremely hard to find with intense magnification.