How long to image the Soul Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF II
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the DwarfLab DWARF II needs about 19 h (4,572 subs of 15 s) for a solid image of the Soul Nebula. A quick look takes 4 h 46 min; a showpiece 76 h. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 9 h 14 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it fills 56% of the frame’s short side.
| Sky | Quick lookTarget obvious, still noisy | SolidClean enough to share | ShowpieceSmooth faint detail, print-worthy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bortle 1Excellent dark site | 2 h 04 min497 subs | 8 h 16 min1,986 subs | 33 h7,941 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 2 h 09 min517 subs | 8 h 36 min2,065 subs | 34 h8,258 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 2 h 18 min554 subs | 9 h 14 min2,215 subs | 37 h8,859 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 2 h 41 min645 subs | 11 h2,579 subs | 43 h10,316 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 3 h 17 min789 subs | 13 h3,156 subs | 53 h12,624 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 4 h 46 min1,143 subs | 19 h4,572 subs | 76 h18,287 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 7 h 34 min1,818 subs | 30 h7,270 subs | 120+ h29,079 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 12 h2,865 subs | 48 h11,459 subs | 190+ h45,834 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 21 h5,098 subs | 85 h20,392 subs | 340+ h81,567 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 25 h of run time. That is more than one night: over 4 nights, about 6 h 11 min each. The DWARF II’s battery is rated at about 3 h, less near freezing, so each night needs an external power bank. (Bortle 6, solid image; we allow 30% over the integration time, and 30% off the battery for a November night.)
- USB-C PD power bank 10000mAh 18W18 W PD input; runs while charging.
- 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 DWARF II →
How it frames
The Soul Nebula is 60′ × 30′ across. The DWARF II frames 3.19° × 1.79° at 2.99″ per pixel, so it fills 56% of the frame’s short side.
Filters
The Soul Nebula is an emission target, where a dual-band filter would normally cut the time several-fold from a lit sky, but the DWARF II has no dual-band option: Two built-in filters, VIS and Astro (IR-pass); no dual-band. The optional UHC filter is no longer sold. The figures above are for the Astro position, and a darker sky is the lever that remains.
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 DwarfLab DWARF II
The original pocket scope. 24 mm aperture and tiny 1.45 µm pixels mean it is slow per pixel, so bin or downsample and be patient.
15 s is the hard maximum in any mode; DwarfLab recommends EQ mode at 15 s. Two built-in filters, VIS and Astro (IR-pass); no dual-band. The optional UHC filter is no longer sold.
The DWARF II uses fixed 15 s subs, so the only levers you have are the sky you shoot from, the filter, and total time.
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 DWARF 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 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
- Soul Nebula with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 2 h from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the Soul Nebula · All targets for the DWARF II