M78 is the brightest diffuse reflection nebula of a group of nebulae that includes NGC 2064, NGC 2067 and NGC 2071. This group belongs to the Orion B molecular cloud complex and is about 1,350 light-years from Earth.  

M78 is easily found in small telescopes as a hazy patch and involves two stars of 10th and 11th magnitude. These two B-type stars, HD 38563 A and HD 38563 B, are responsible for making the cloud of dust in M78 visible by reflecting their blue light.

The nebula is lit by a stellar nursery of young stars that illuminate the area with scattered blue light.  M78 is classified as a reflection nebula because the dust particles are reflecting starlight from the intensely hot, young stars beneath it.

This relatively small reflection nebula is easy to overlook because of it’s proximity to much larger, brighter and more noteworthy nebulous regions such as the Orion, Horsehead and Flame Nebula. M78 lies within the constellation Orion, north of Alnitak, and the famous Horsehead Nebula. 

It will appear as a small hazy patch through a telescope, as long as you are viewing this nebula in a sky free of moonlight and light pollution. If you can find the Orion Nebula – head upwards to the 3 stars of Orion’s Belt. Then, travel northwest of the leftmost star until you reach Messier 78.  

Photography & gear details:

176 300s subframes, or 14.5 hours of exposure, using the ZWO ASI071MC Pro OSC camera with OPT L-Pro filter and Skywatcher 120ED Triplet refractor telescope at 840mm.  
Skywatcher EQ6r Pro equitorial mount
QHY Polemaster
Pegasus PowerBox Advanced
Primeluca senso sesto 2 electronic focuser
ZWO OAG with ASI290mm mini guide camera
Intel NUC running windows 10 pro
Astrophotography Tool (APT 3.9) image acquisition
PHD2 guiding
Image calibration, stacking and post processing performed manually in PixInsight 1.8.8-12
Metadata updates and jpg creation in Adobe Bridge.