How long should I image the Soul Nebula with the Vespera 3 from a Bortle 6 sky?

About 5 h 16 min of total integration for a solid image, or 21 h for a showpiece. A quick look takes 1 h 19 min.

How many subs is that on the Vespera 3?

At the default 10 s sub length, 1,898 subs for a solid image from Bortle 6 and 676 from Bortle 3.

Does a dual-band filter help on the Soul Nebula?

Yes. It is an emission-line object; from Bortle 6 the filter cuts the solid-image time from 5 h 16 min to 3 h 10 min.

How long to image the Soul Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera 3

From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the Vaonis Vespera 3 needs about 5 h 16 min (1,898 subs of 10 s) for a solid image of the Soul Nebula. A quick look takes 1 h 19 min; a showpiece 21 h. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 1 h 53 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 fills 68% of the frame’s short side.

Soul Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 10 s subs.
Sky	Quick lookTarget obvious, still noisy	SolidClean enough to share	ShowpieceSmooth faint detail, print-worthy
Bortle 1Excellent dark site	23 min140 subs	1 h 33 min557 subs	6 h 11 min2,225 subs
Bortle 2Typical dark site	25 min150 subs	1 h 40 min598 subs	6 h 38 min2,390 subs
Bortle 3Rural	28 min169 subs	1 h 53 min676 subs	7 h 30 min2,702 subs
Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition	36 min217 subs	2 h 24 min865 subs	9 h 36 min3,457 subs
Bortle 5Suburban	48 min291 subs	3 h 14 min1,164 subs	13 h4,654 subs
Bortle 6Bright suburban	1 h 19 min475 subs	5 h 16 min1,898 subs	21 h7,591 subs
Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition	2 h 17 min825 subs	9 h 09 min3,297 subs	37 h13,188 subs
Bortle 8City	3 h 48 min1,368 subs	15 h5,470 subs	61 h21,877 subs
Bortle 9Inner city	7 h 01 min2,526 subs	28 h10,103 subs	110+ h40,409 subs

Adjust in the calculator

Power and kit for this session

Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 6 h 51 min of run time. The Vespera 3’s battery is rated at about 11 h, less near freezing, which is cutting it fine; take a 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 30WVaonis says an external bank extends sessions; 30 W PD as for the II and Pro.
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red LED head torchRed light keeps your night vision; white light costs you twenty minutes of dark adaptation every time.
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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 Vespera 3 →

How it frames

The Soul Nebula is 60′ × 30′ across. The Vespera 3 frames 2.60° × 1.46° at 2.44″ per pixel, so it fills 68% of the frame’s short side.

Longer subs

10 s subs by default; Expert Mode manual targets allow 1 to 30 s. Alt-azimuth only; CovalENS mosaic widens the field to 4.3° × 2.4°. Time for a solid image by sub length:

Sub length	Bortle 3	Bortle 5	Bortle 7
10 s	1 h 53 min676 subs	3 h 14 min1,164 subs	9 h 09 min3,297 subs
20 s	1 h 34 min283 subs	2 h 56 min527 subs	8 h 51 min1,594 subs
30 s	1 h 28 min177 subs	2 h 49 min339 subs	8 h 45 min1,051 subs

With and without the dual-band filter

Solid quality, default sub length.
Filter	Bortle 3	Bortle 5	Bortle 7
No filter	1 h 53 min676 subs	3 h 14 min1,164 subs	9 h 09 min3,297 subs
dual-band (Dual Band filter), clip-on	2 h 07 min764 subs	2 h 32 min914 subs	4 h 21 min1,567 subs

The Vespera 3 has no built-in dual-band filter. Optional clip-on Vaonis filters: dual-band, light-pollution (CLS) and solar. The new optical baffle is not a substitute for a CLS 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 Vaonis Vespera 3

The 2026 Vespera: same 50 mm quadruplet class as the II on an 8 MP IMX585, with a 24 MP mosaic mode and 11 hours of battery. Per pixel it behaves like a Seestar S50 Pro without the built-in dual-band filter.

10 s subs by default; Expert Mode manual targets allow 1 to 30 s. Alt-azimuth only; CovalENS mosaic widens the field to 4.3° × 2.4°. Optional clip-on Vaonis filters: dual-band, light-pollution (CLS) and solar. The new optical baffle is not a substitute for a CLS 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.

Where to buy the Vespera 3Vaonis store Direct Amazon UK Amazon USThe Vaonis store link is a plain link; the others are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, at no cost to you.

Imaged the Soul Nebula with your Vespera 3? Did the solid figure match?Anonymous, one tap. It is how the model gets calibrated.

Have an image of the Soul Nebula from a Vespera 3? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.

Same target, other telescopes

All telescopes for the Soul Nebula · All targets for the Vespera 3