Over the past couple of days I've been trying to find the M42 Orion Nebula. However, all my attempts were unsuccessful. I see the Orion's sword with a naked eye, point my telescope to it, and simply end up seeing a bunch of random stars but not the nebula itself. This could be because I'm either not looking in the right direction, or my telescope is not powerful enough. Keep in mind that this is not my first deep sky object, previously I've successfully captured the M45 Pleiades star cluster, and I had no trouble finding it. That could also be due to the fact that M45 contains bright, tightly packed stars, while M42 is a Nebula. I'll attach an image of the stars that I keep seeing every time I point my scope towards the Orion's Nebula. I tried plate solving it, tho all the attempts were unsuccessful. At this point my only hope is someone experienced enough to locate the exact patch of sky within the provided picture. Any advice is appreciated!
