How long to image the Soul Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro needs about 4 h 04 min (1,466 subs of 10 s with the built-in dual-band (LP filter) 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 50 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it fills 45% 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 | 41 min245 subs | 2 h 43 min980 subs | 11 h3,917 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 41 min249 subs | 2 h 46 min995 subs | 11 h3,977 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 43 min256 subs | 2 h 50 min1,023 subs | 11 h4,090 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 45 min273 subs | 3 h 02 min1,091 subs | 12 h4,364 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 50 min300 subs | 3 h 20 min1,200 subs | 13 h4,798 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 1 h 01 min367 subs | 4 h 04 min1,466 subs | 16 h5,863 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 1 h 22 min494 subs | 5 h 29 min1,974 subs | 22 h7,893 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 1 h 55 min691 subs | 7 h 40 min2,761 subs | 31 h11,044 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 3 h 05 min1,111 subs | 12 h4,442 subs | 49 h17,765 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 5 h 18 min of run time. The Seestar S30 Pro’s battery is rated at about 5 h, 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 power bank 10000mAh 5V 3A5 V 3 A input and it runs while charging.
- Seestar S30 Pro dew shieldActive anti-dew is built in; a shield adds margin. The S30 Pro front differs from the S30, so check the listing.
- 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 Seestar S30 Pro →
How it frames
The Soul Nebula is 60′ × 30′ across. The Seestar S30 Pro frames 3.99° × 2.24° at 3.74″ per pixel, so it fills 45% of the frame’s short side.
Longer subs
10, 20 and 30 s in Alt-Az; 60 s only in EQ mode, which needs the TH10 head. Time for a solid image by sub length:
| Sub length | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 s | 2 h 50 min1,023 subs | 3 h 20 min1,200 subs | 5 h 29 min1,974 subs |
| 20 s | 1 h 58 min354 subs | 2 h 27 min443 subs | 4 h 36 min830 subs |
| 30 s | 1 h 41 min202 subs | 2 h 10 min261 subs | 4 h 19 min518 subs |
| 60 s | 1 h 23 min84 subs | 1 h 53 min113 subs | 4 h 01 min242 subs |
With and without the dual-band filter
| Filter | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| UV/IR-cut (no light-pollution filter) | 2 h 23 min858 subs | 3 h 59 min1,436 subs | 11 h3,964 subs |
| dual-band (LP filter) | 2 h 50 min1,023 subs | 3 h 20 min1,200 subs | 5 h 29 min1,974 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 ZWO Seestar S30 Pro
The S30 optics upgraded to a quadruplet in front of an 8 MP IMX585. Same speed per pixel as the S30, four times the pixels, so you can crop hard.
10, 20 and 30 s in Alt-Az; 60 s only in EQ mode, which needs the TH10 head. Built-in UV/IR-cut, dual-band (OIII 30 nm / Hα 20 nm) and dark filters on the telephoto camera.
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 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 Seestar S30 Pro? 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 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
- Soul Nebula with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 2 h from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the Soul Nebula · All targets for the Seestar S30 Pro