How long to image the Soul Nebula with the Celestron Origin Mark II
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the Celestron Origin Mark II needs about 2 h (718 subs of 10 s) for a solid image of the Soul Nebula. A quick look takes 30 min; a showpiece 7 h 58 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 33 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is skyglow, so a darker site or a filter helps more than longer subs. In this scope's field it is just over the frame at 1.3×.
| Sky | Quick lookTarget obvious, still noisy | SolidClean enough to share | ShowpieceSmooth faint detail, print-worthy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bortle 1Excellent dark site | 6 min37 subs | 24 min147 subs | 1 h 38 min587 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 7 min42 subs | 27 min165 subs | 1 h 49 min657 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 8 min50 subs | 33 min198 subs | 2 h 12 min790 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 12 min70 subs | 46 min278 subs | 3 h 05 min1,111 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 17 min102 subs | 1 h 08 min406 subs | 4 h 30 min1,621 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 30 min180 subs | 2 h718 subs | 7 h 58 min2,870 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 55 min329 subs | 3 h 39 min1,313 subs | 15 h5,250 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 1 h 33 min560 subs | 6 h 13 min2,237 subs | 25 h8,946 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 2 h 55 min1,052 subs | 12 h4,208 subs | 47 h16,829 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 2 h 35 min of run time. The Origin Mark II’s battery (rated about 6 h) should cover it; a power bank still keeps the phone running the app alive. (Bortle 6, solid image; we allow 30% over the integration time, and 30% off the battery for a November night.)
- portable power station 300W AC outletRuns the supplied 12 V adapter off-grid; dew shield and heater are built in.
- red LED head torchRed light keeps your night vision; white light costs you twenty minutes of dark adaptation every time.
- hand warmers long lastingAir-activated packs give hours of heat for the person; winter nights are long and you spend most of them standing still.
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Everything that fits the Origin Mark II →
How it frames
The Soul Nebula is 60′ × 30′ across. The Origin Mark II frames 1.32° × 0.75° at 1.23″ per pixel, so it is just over the frame at 1.3×. Point at the part you want; the edges will fall outside the frame.
Longer subs
10 s auto subs (15 s with the Nebula Filter); manual 1 to 30 s on the alt-az mount, longer only with the EQ wedge, and 60 s and up needs the StarSense Autoguider too. Celestron warns the f/2.2 optics saturate quickly without the filter. Time for a solid image by sub length:
| Sub length | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 s | 33 min198 subs | 1 h 08 min406 subs | 3 h 39 min1,313 subs |
| 15 s | 32 min129 subs | 1 h 07 min267 subs | 3 h 38 min872 subs |
| 30 s | 31 min63 subs | 1 h 06 min132 subs | 3 h 37 min435 subs |
With and without the dual-band filter
| Filter | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No filter | 33 min198 subs | 1 h 08 min406 subs | 3 h 39 min1,313 subs |
| dual-band (Nebula Filter), drawer | 24 min142 subs | 34 min206 subs | 1 h 20 min483 subs |
The Origin Mark II has no built-in dual-band filter. Filter drawer takes 1.25-inch or 2-inch filters, including dual-band; Celestron sells an optional Nebula Filter. On an emission target like this it is the single biggest upgrade you can make.
About the Soul Nebula
The Heart's companion, a knobbly emission cloud full of pillars. Faint overall; long dual-band integrations reward you.
IC 1848, Sh2-199 · Emission nebula in Cassiopeia · magnitude 6.5 · 60′ × 30′ · best in Oct, Nov, Dec. Reachable from mid-northern latitudes (UK, northern US, central Europe) and from the south.
Emission nebulae glow in a few narrow lines, mostly hydrogen-alpha (deep red) and doubly ionised oxygen (teal). A dual-band filter passes those lines and blocks most skyglow, which is why it cuts the time needed from a suburban sky so dramatically. Use it. From a genuinely dark site the gain is smaller because there is less skyglow to block, and read noise becomes the limit, which is where longer subs (EQ mode, or Expert Mode on a Vespera) earn their keep.
Stars lose colour through a dual-band filter; a short broadband stack blended in fixes that if you care.
About the Celestron Origin Mark II
The Origin Mark II (late 2025): the same 6-inch f/2.2 RASA with an 8 MP IMX678 in place of the original 6 MP IMX178. Smaller pixels for finer detail, a quieter sensor, and still the fastest system here by a wide margin.
10 s auto subs (15 s with the Nebula Filter); manual 1 to 30 s on the alt-az mount, longer only with the EQ wedge, and 60 s and up needs the StarSense Autoguider too. Celestron warns the f/2.2 optics saturate quickly without the filter. Filter drawer takes 1.25-inch or 2-inch filters, including dual-band; Celestron sells an optional Nebula Filter.
Longer subs matter most under dark skies, where read noise rather than skyglow sets the floor. From a city the difference between 10 s and 30 s subs is small; from a rural site it can halve the total time, especially with a dual-band filter in place.
Stack across nights. Every smart scope app can continue a stack or you can combine the saved frames on a computer; the figures here are totals, not single-session limits.
Have an image of the Soul Nebula from a Origin Mark II? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.
Same target, other telescopes
- Soul Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50: 3 h 21 min from Bortle 6
- Soul Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 3 h 46 min from Bortle 6
- Soul Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30: 3 h 57 min from Bortle 6
- Soul Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 4 h 04 min from Bortle 6
- Soul Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 4 h 06 min from Bortle 6
- Soul Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 3 h 18 min from Bortle 6
- Soul Nebula with the DwarfLab Draco: 2 h 39 min from Bortle 6
- Soul Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF II: 19 h from Bortle 6
- Soul Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera II: 5 h 31 min from Bortle 6
- Soul Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 12 h from Bortle 6
- Soul Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 5 h 16 min from Bortle 6
- Soul Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 12 h from Bortle 6
- Soul Nebula with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 5 h 05 min from Bortle 6
- Soul Nebula with the Unistellar Odyssey: 24 h from Bortle 6
- Soul Nebula with the Celestron Origin: 1 h 27 min from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the Soul Nebula · All targets for the Origin Mark II