How long to image the Soul Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF 3
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the DwarfLab DWARF 3 needs about 4 h 06 min (984 subs of 15 s with the built-in dual-band filter) for a solid image of the Soul Nebula. A quick look takes 1 h 01 min; a showpiece 16 h. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 2 h 26 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it fills 61% 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 | 34 min136 subs | 2 h 16 min544 subs | 9 h 03 min2,173 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 35 min140 subs | 2 h 19 min557 subs | 9 h 17 min2,227 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 36 min146 subs | 2 h 26 min583 subs | 9 h 42 min2,330 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 40 min162 subs | 2 h 41 min645 subs | 11 h2,578 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 46 min186 subs | 3 h 06 min743 subs | 12 h2,970 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 1 h 01 min246 subs | 4 h 06 min984 subs | 16 h3,935 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 1 h 30 min361 subs | 6 h 01 min1,443 subs | 24 h5,772 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 2 h 15 min539 subs | 8 h 59 min2,156 subs | 36 h8,624 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 3 h 50 min920 subs | 15 h3,677 subs | 61 h14,707 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 5 h 20 min of run time. The DWARF 3’s battery is rated at about 5 h 30 min, less near freezing, so the session 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 20000mAh 18W18 W PD input and it runs while charging; needs a C-to-C cable for PD.
- 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 3 →
How it frames
The Soul Nebula is 60′ × 30′ across. The DWARF 3 frames 2.93° × 1.65° at 2.75″ per pixel, so it fills 61% of the frame’s short side.
Longer subs
Auto mode caps subs at 15 s; 30 s and longer need EQ mode, and 60 s is the ceiling on the tele camera. Time for a solid image by sub length:
| Sub length | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 s | 2 h 26 min583 subs | 3 h 06 min743 subs | 6 h 01 min1,443 subs |
| 30 s | 2 h 02 min245 subs | 2 h 42 min325 subs | 5 h 38 min676 subs |
| 60 s | 1 h 51 min111 subs | 2 h 31 min151 subs | 5 h 26 min326 subs |
With and without the dual-band filter
| Filter | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Astro (no light-pollution filter) | 2 h 32 min609 subs | 4 h 43 min1,132 subs | 14 h3,420 subs |
| dual-band | 2 h 26 min583 subs | 3 h 06 min743 subs | 6 h 01 min1,443 subs |
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 3
Small pixels on a 35 mm f/4.3 lens give a sharper image than its aperture suggests, and EQ mode with 60 s subs makes it the read-noise winner in dark skies.
Auto mode caps subs at 15 s; 30 s and longer need EQ mode, and 60 s is the ceiling on the tele camera. Three built-in filters: VIS, Astro (430 to 690 nm) and dual-band Hα 656 nm / OIII 501 nm.
Longer subs matter most under dark skies, where read noise rather than skyglow sets the floor. From a city the difference between 15 s and 60 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 DWARF 3? 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 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
- Soul Nebula with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 2 h from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the Soul Nebula · All targets for the DWARF 3