How long to image the Tadpoles Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro needs about 2 h 40 min (960 subs of 10 s with the built-in dual-band (LP filter) filter) for a solid image of the Tadpoles Nebula. A quick look takes 40 min; a showpiece 11 h. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 1 h 51 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it fills 48% 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 | 27 min160 subs | 1 h 47 min640 subs | 7 h 06 min2,559 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 27 min163 subs | 1 h 48 min650 subs | 7 h 13 min2,598 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 28 min167 subs | 1 h 51 min668 subs | 7 h 25 min2,672 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 30 min179 subs | 1 h 59 min713 subs | 7 h 55 min2,852 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 33 min197 subs | 2 h 11 min785 subs | 8 h 43 min3,138 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 40 min240 subs | 2 h 40 min960 subs | 11 h3,838 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 54 min324 subs | 3 h 36 min1,294 subs | 14 h5,173 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 1 h 15 min453 subs | 5 h 02 min1,812 subs | 20 h7,246 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 2 h 02 min730 subs | 8 h 06 min2,917 subs | 32 h11,666 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 3 h 28 min of run time. The Seestar S50 Pro’s battery (rated about 9 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 20000mAh 30WAccepts 12 V 3 A PD, so a 30 W bank tops up the 10,000 mAh cell while imaging.
- Seestar S50 Pro dew shieldDew heater is built in; a shield adds margin on damp nights. Check the listing says S50 Pro.
- 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 S50 Pro →
How it frames
The Tadpoles Nebula is 40′ × 30′ across. The Seestar S50 Pro frames 2.45° × 1.38° at 2.30″ per pixel, so it fills 48% of the frame’s short side.
Longer subs
10, 20 and 30 s in Alt-Az; 60 s only in EQ mode, and 60 s is the ceiling. Time for a solid image by sub length:
| Sub length | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 s | 1 h 51 min668 subs | 2 h 11 min785 subs | 3 h 36 min1,294 subs |
| 20 s | 1 h 19 min236 subs | 1 h 38 min294 subs | 3 h 03 min549 subs |
| 30 s | 1 h 08 min136 subs | 1 h 27 min175 subs | 2 h 52 min344 subs |
| 60 s | 57 min57 subs | 1 h 16 min77 subs | 2 h 41 min161 subs |
With and without the dual-band filter
| Filter | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| UV/IR-cut (no light-pollution filter) | 1 h 34 min567 subs | 2 h 38 min947 subs | 7 h 15 min2,609 subs |
| dual-band (LP filter) | 1 h 51 min668 subs | 2 h 11 min785 subs | 3 h 36 min1,294 subs |
About the Tadpoles Nebula
A hydrogen cloud around the cluster NGC 1893, with two tadpole-shaped pillars. Sits in a frame with the Flaming Star on a wide scope.
IC 410 · Emission nebula in Auriga · magnitude 7.5 · 40′ × 30′ · 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 ZWO Seestar S50 Pro
The S50 optics at 260 mm on an 8 MP 1/1.2-inch sensor: a wider, taller field, four times the pixels, and 60 s subs in EQ mode. Per pixel it is a whisker slower than the S50 because of the longer focal length; the long subs make it the better dark-site scope.
10, 20 and 30 s in Alt-Az; 60 s only in EQ mode, and 60 s is the ceiling. 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 Tadpoles Nebula from a Seestar S50 Pro? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.
Same target, other telescopes
- Tadpoles Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50: 2 h 22 min from Bortle 6
- Tadpoles Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30: 2 h 47 min from Bortle 6
- Tadpoles Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 2 h 53 min from Bortle 6
- Tadpoles Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 2 h 55 min from Bortle 6
- Tadpoles Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 2 h 20 min from Bortle 6
- Tadpoles Nebula with the DwarfLab Draco: 1 h 52 min from Bortle 6
- Tadpoles Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF II: 13 h from Bortle 6
- Tadpoles Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera II: 3 h 51 min from Bortle 6
- Tadpoles Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 8 h 39 min from Bortle 6
- Tadpoles Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 3 h 41 min from Bortle 6
- Tadpoles Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 8 h 15 min from Bortle 6
- Tadpoles Nebula with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 3 h 32 min from Bortle 6
- Tadpoles Nebula with the Unistellar Odyssey: 16 h from Bortle 6
- Tadpoles Nebula with the Celestron Origin: 1 h 01 min from Bortle 6
- Tadpoles Nebula with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 1 h 24 min from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the Tadpoles Nebula · All targets for the Seestar S50 Pro