How long should I image the Pelican Nebula with the Vespera Pro 2 from a Bortle 6 sky?

About 6 h 53 min of total integration for a solid image, or 28 h for a showpiece. A quick look takes 1 h 43 min.

How many subs is that on the Vespera Pro 2?

At the default 10 s sub length, 2,481 subs for a solid image from Bortle 6 and 1,002 from Bortle 3.

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

Yes. It is an emission-line object; from Bortle 6 the filter cuts the solid-image time from 6 h 53 min to 4 h 49 min.

How long to image the Pelican Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2

From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2 needs about 6 h 53 min (2,481 subs of 10 s) for a solid image of the Pelican Nebula. A quick look takes 1 h 43 min; a showpiece 28 h. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 2 h 47 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.

Pelican Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 10 s subs.
Sky	Quick lookTarget obvious, still noisy	SolidClean enough to share	ShowpieceSmooth faint detail, print-worthy
Bortle 1Excellent dark site	36 min215 subs	2 h 23 min858 subs	9 h 32 min3,431 subs
Bortle 2Typical dark site	38 min227 subs	2 h 31 min908 subs	10 h3,630 subs
Bortle 3Rural	42 min251 subs	2 h 47 min1,002 subs	11 h4,007 subs
Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition	51 min308 subs	3 h 25 min1,231 subs	14 h4,921 subs
Bortle 5Suburban	1 h 06 min399 subs	4 h 25 min1,593 subs	18 h6,369 subs
Bortle 6Bright suburban	1 h 43 min621 subs	6 h 53 min2,481 subs	28 h9,923 subs
Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition	2 h 54 min1,044 subs	12 h4,174 subs	46 h16,694 subs
Bortle 8City	4 h 43 min1,701 subs	19 h6,802 subs	76 h27,207 subs
Bortle 9Inner city	8 h 37 min3,102 subs	34 h12,407 subs	140+ h49,628 subs

Adjust in the calculator

Power and kit for this session

Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 8 h 57 min of run time. That is more than one night: over 2 nights, about 4 h 29 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.)

USB-C PD power bank 20000mAh 30WExternal bank extends the 11 h battery.
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How it frames

The Pelican Nebula is 60′ × 50′ 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	2 h 47 min1,002 subs	4 h 25 min1,593 subs	12 h4,174 subs
20 s	2 h 17 min412 subs	3 h 56 min707 subs	11 h1,998 subs
30 s	2 h 07 min255 subs	3 h 46 min452 subs	11 h1,312 subs

With and without the dual-band filter

Solid quality, default sub length.
Filter	Bortle 3	Bortle 5	Bortle 7
No filter	2 h 47 min1,002 subs	4 h 25 min1,593 subs	12 h4,174 subs
dual-band (Dual Band filter), clip-on	3 h 33 min1,280 subs	4 h 03 min1,461 subs	6 h 15 min2,251 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 Pelican Nebula

The North America Nebula's neighbour across a dark gulf, with pillars along its beak. Fainter than NGC 7000 and worth its own session.

IC 5070 · Emission nebula in Cygnus · magnitude 8.0 · 60′ × 50′ · best in Jul, Aug, Sep. 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.

Where to buy the Vespera Pro 2Vaonis 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 Pelican Nebula with your Vespera Pro 2? Did the solid figure match?Anonymous, one tap. It is how the model gets calibrated.

Have an image of the Pelican 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

All telescopes for the Pelican Nebula · All targets for the Vespera Pro 2