How long to image the Soul Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2 needs about 12 h (4,252 subs of 10 s) for a solid image of the Soul Nebula. A quick look takes 2 h 57 min; a showpiece 47 h. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 4 h 40 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 60% 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 | 1 h358 subs | 3 h 58 min1,431 subs | 16 h5,723 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 1 h 03 min380 subs | 4 h 13 min1,518 subs | 17 h6,070 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 1 h 10 min421 subs | 4 h 40 min1,682 subs | 19 h6,725 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 1 h 27 min520 subs | 5 h 46 min2,079 subs | 23 h8,313 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 1 h 53 min677 subs | 7 h 31 min2,708 subs | 30 h10,830 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 2 h 57 min1,063 subs | 12 h4,252 subs | 47 h17,006 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 5 h1,799 subs | 20 h7,193 subs | 80 h28,772 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 8 h 10 min2,941 subs | 33 h11,761 subs | 130+ h47,042 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 15 h5,376 subs | 60 h21,502 subs | 240+ h86,005 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 15 h of run time. That is more than one night: over 3 nights, about 5 h 07 min each. The Vespera Pro 2’s battery (rated about 11 h) should cover each night; 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.)
- USB-C PD power bank 20000mAh 30WExternal bank extends the 11 h battery.
- 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 Vespera Pro 2 →
How it frames
The Soul Nebula is 60′ × 30′ across. The Vespera Pro 2 frames 1.65° × 1.65° at 1.68″ per pixel, so it fills 60% 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 gives 3.2° × 3.2° at 50 MP. Time for a solid image by sub length:
| Sub length | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 s | 4 h 40 min1,682 subs | 7 h 31 min2,708 subs | 20 h7,193 subs |
| 20 s | 3 h 48 min686 subs | 6 h 39 min1,199 subs | 19 h3,442 subs |
| 30 s | 3 h 31 min423 subs | 6 h 22 min765 subs | 19 h2,260 subs |
With and without the dual-band filter
| Filter | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No filter | 4 h 40 min1,682 subs | 7 h 31 min2,708 subs | 20 h7,193 subs |
| dual-band (Dual Band filter), clip-on | 5 h 57 min2,140 subs | 6 h 49 min2,454 subs | 11 h3,827 subs |
The Vespera Pro 2 has no built-in dual-band filter. Optional clip-on Vaonis filters: dual-band, light-pollution (CLS) and solar. 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 Pro 2
The square-sensor 2026 Vespera with 2 µm pixels. Sharper than the Vespera 3 on small targets and correspondingly slower per pixel; the 12.5 MP square frame suits galaxies and planetaries.
10 s subs by default; Expert Mode manual targets allow 1 to 30 s. Alt-azimuth only; CovalENS mosaic gives 3.2° × 3.2° at 50 MP. Optional clip-on Vaonis filters: dual-band, light-pollution (CLS) and solar.
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 Vespera Pro 2? 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 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 Vespera Pro 2