How long should I image the Ghost of Cassiopeia with the Origin from a Bortle 6 sky?

About 45 min of total integration for a solid image, or 3 h for a showpiece. A quick look takes 11 min.

How many subs is that on the Origin?

At the default 10 s sub length, 270 subs for a solid image from Bortle 6 and 91 from Bortle 3.

Does a dual-band filter help on the Ghost of Cassiopeia?

Yes. It is an emission-line object; from Bortle 6 the filter cuts the solid-image time from 45 min to 24 min.

How long to image the Ghost of Cassiopeia with the Celestron Origin

From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the Celestron Origin needs about 45 min (270 subs of 10 s) for a solid image of the Ghost of Cassiopeia. A quick look takes 11 min; a showpiece 3 h. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 15 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 20% of the frame’s short side.

Ghost of Cassiopeia with the Celestron Origin: 10 s subs.
Sky	Quick lookTarget obvious, still noisy	SolidClean enough to share	ShowpieceSmooth faint detail, print-worthy
Bortle 1Excellent dark site	3 min19 subs	12 min74 subs	49 min293 subs
Bortle 2Typical dark site	3 min20 subs	13 min80 subs	53 min317 subs
Bortle 3Rural	4 min23 subs	15 min91 subs	1 h363 subs
Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition	5 min30 subs	20 min119 subs	1 h 19 min474 subs
Bortle 5Suburban	7 min41 subs	27 min163 subs	1 h 48 min649 subs
Bortle 6Bright suburban	11 min68 subs	45 min270 subs	3 h1,080 subs
Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition	20 min119 subs	1 h 19 min476 subs	5 h 17 min1,901 subs
Bortle 8City	33 min199 subs	2 h 12 min794 subs	8 h 49 min3,176 subs
Bortle 9Inner city	1 h 01 min369 subs	4 h 06 min1,474 subs	16 h5,895 subs

Adjust in the calculator

Power and kit for this session

Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 58 min of run time. The Origin’s battery (rated about 6 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.)

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How it frames

The Ghost of Cassiopeia is 10′ × 3′ across. The Origin frames 1.27° × 0.85° at 1.48″ per pixel, so it fills 20% of the frame’s short side.

Longer subs

10 s auto subs (15 s with the Nebula Filter); manual 1 to 30 s on the alt-az mount, longer only with the EQ wedge, and 60 s and up needs the StarSense Autoguider too. Time for a solid image by sub length:

Sub length	Bortle 3	Bortle 5	Bortle 7
10 s	15 min91 subs	27 min163 subs	1 h 19 min476 subs
15 s	14 min57 subs	26 min104 subs	1 h 18 min313 subs
30 s	15 min30 subs	25 min50 subs	1 h 17 min155 subs

With and without the dual-band filter

Solid quality, default sub length.
Filter	Bortle 3	Bortle 5	Bortle 7
No filter	15 min91 subs	27 min163 subs	1 h 19 min476 subs
dual-band (Nebula Filter), drawer	15 min89 subs	18 min111 subs	34 min207 subs

The Origin has no built-in dual-band filter. Filter drawer takes 1.25-inch or 2-inch filters, including dual-band; Celestron sells an optional Nebula Filter. On an emission target like this it is the single biggest upgrade you can make.

About the Ghost of Cassiopeia

A small emission and reflection wisp being eroded by the star Gamma Cassiopeiae. Keep the bright star's glare under control.

IC 63 · Emission nebula in Cassiopeia · magnitude 10.0 · 10′ × 3′ · best in Sep, Oct, Nov. 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 Celestron Origin

The first-generation Origin: a 6-inch f/2.2 RASA in a smart package and the fastest system here by a wide margin. Superseded by the Mark II in late 2025 and no longer sold new; Celestron offers a camera upgrade to the Mark II sensor.

10 s auto subs (15 s with the Nebula Filter); manual 1 to 30 s on the alt-az mount, longer only with the EQ wedge, and 60 s and up needs the StarSense Autoguider too. Filter drawer takes 1.25-inch or 2-inch filters, including dual-band; Celestron sells an optional Nebula 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.

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Imaged the Ghost of Cassiopeia with your Origin? Did the solid figure match?Anonymous, one tap. It is how the model gets calibrated.

Have an image of the Ghost of Cassiopeia from a Origin? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.

Same target, other telescopes

All telescopes for the Ghost of Cassiopeia · All targets for the Origin