How long to image the Flaming Star Nebula with the DwarfLab Draco
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the DwarfLab Draco needs about 1 h 20 min (160 subs of 30 s with the built-in dual-narrowband (Hα + OIII) filter) for a solid image of the Flaming Star Nebula. A quick look takes 20 min; a showpiece 5 h 20 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 54 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it fills 40% 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 | 13 min26 subs | 51 min103 subs | 3 h 26 min412 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 13 min27 subs | 52 min105 subs | 3 h 29 min419 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 14 min28 subs | 54 min109 subs | 3 h 36 min433 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 15 min30 subs | 58 min117 subs | 3 h 52 min465 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 16 min33 subs | 1 h 04 min129 subs | 4 h 17 min515 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 20 min40 subs | 1 h 20 min160 subs | 5 h 20 min640 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 27 min55 subs | 1 h 50 min220 subs | 7 h 18 min877 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 39 min78 subs | 2 h 36 min312 subs | 10 h1,245 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 1 h 03 min127 subs | 4 h 14 min508 subs | 17 h2,031 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 1 h 44 min of run time. The Draco’s battery (rated about 5 h) should cover it; 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 December night.)
- USB-C PD power bank 20000mAhRated 5 h on its 10,000 mAh battery. DwarfLab has not published the charging input, so check PD support before relying on it mid-session.
- 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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How it frames
The Flaming Star Nebula is 30′ × 19′ across. The Draco frames 1.66° × 1.24° at 1.46″ per pixel, so it fills 40% of the frame’s short side.
Longer subs
Auto Mode picks the exposure; Pro Mode allows up to 300 s, held by built-in guiding and field derotation. The 30 s default here is our assumption. Time for a solid image by sub length:
| Sub length | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 s | 54 min109 subs | 1 h 04 min129 subs | 1 h 50 min220 subs |
| 60 s | 39 min40 subs | 50 min50 subs | 1 h 35 min96 subs |
| 120 s | 1 h30 subs | 1 h30 subs | 1 h 28 min44 subs |
| 300 s | 2 h 30 min30 subs | 2 h 30 min30 subs | 2 h 30 min30 subs |
With and without the dual-band filter
| Filter | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No filter | 48 min97 subs | 1 h 22 min164 subs | 3 h 50 min460 subs |
| dual-narrowband (Hα + OIII) | 54 min109 subs | 1 h 04 min129 subs | 1 h 50 min220 subs |
About the Flaming Star Nebula
Emission and reflection lit by the runaway star AE Aurigae. Dual-band for the red; a broadband stack adds the blue.
IC 405, Caldwell 31 · Emission nebula in Auriga · magnitude 6.0 · 30′ × 19′ · best in Nov, Dec, Jan. 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 Draco
DwarfLab’s big scope: 90 mm of folded f/3.8 optics, the most aperture of any Seestar or DWARF, a narrow 13 nm dual-band filter and 300 s subs with built-in guiding. A small-target scope; big nebulae need its mosaic mode.
Auto Mode picks the exposure; Pro Mode allows up to 300 s, held by built-in guiding and field derotation. The 30 s default here is our assumption. Built-in Hα + OIII dual-narrowband filter, 13 nm per line; the SHO Edition adds an SII option.
Longer subs matter most under dark skies, where read noise rather than skyglow sets the floor. From a city the difference between 30 s and 300 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 Flaming Star Nebula from a Draco? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.
Same target, other telescopes
- Flaming Star Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50: 1 h 41 min from Bortle 6
- Flaming Star Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 1 h 53 min from Bortle 6
- Flaming Star Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30: 1 h 58 min from Bortle 6
- Flaming Star Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 2 h 02 min from Bortle 6
- Flaming Star Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 2 h 05 min from Bortle 6
- Flaming Star Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 1 h 40 min from Bortle 6
- Flaming Star Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF II: 9 h 16 min from Bortle 6
- Flaming Star Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera II: 2 h 42 min from Bortle 6
- Flaming Star Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 6 h 03 min from Bortle 6
- Flaming Star Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 2 h 35 min from Bortle 6
- Flaming Star Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 5 h 46 min from Bortle 6
- Flaming Star Nebula with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 2 h 28 min from Bortle 6
- Flaming Star Nebula with the Unistellar Odyssey: 11 h from Bortle 6
- Flaming Star Nebula with the Celestron Origin: 43 min from Bortle 6
- Flaming Star Nebula with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 59 min from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the Flaming Star Nebula · All targets for the Draco