How long should I image the Spindle Galaxy with the Origin from a Bortle 6 sky?

About 6 min of total integration for a solid image, or 25 min for a showpiece. A quick look takes 2 min.

How many subs is that on the Origin?

At the default 10 s sub length, 38 subs for a solid image from Bortle 6 and 30 from Bortle 3.

Does a dual-band filter help on the Spindle Galaxy?

No. The Spindle Galaxy is a broadband target and a dual-band filter blocks most of its light. Shoot without a filter.

How long to image the Spindle Galaxy with the Celestron Origin

From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the Celestron Origin needs about 6 min (38 subs of 10 s) for a solid image of the Spindle Galaxy. A quick look takes 2 min; a showpiece 25 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 5 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 9% of the frame’s short side.

Spindle Galaxy 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	2 min10 subs	5 min30 subs	15 min90 subs
Bortle 2Typical dark site	2 min10 subs	5 min30 subs	15 min90 subs
Bortle 3Rural	2 min10 subs	5 min30 subs	15 min90 subs
Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition	2 min10 subs	5 min30 subs	15 min90 subs
Bortle 5Suburban	2 min10 subs	5 min30 subs	17 min102 subs
Bortle 6Bright suburban	2 min10 subs	6 min38 subs	25 min152 subs
Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition	3 min16 subs	10 min62 subs	41 min246 subs
Bortle 8City	4 min25 subs	16 min99 subs	1 h 05 min393 subs
Bortle 9Inner city	7 min45 subs	29 min177 subs	1 h 57 min705 subs

Adjust in the calculator

Power and kit for this session

Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 8 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 Spindle Galaxy is 4.7′ × 1.9′ across. The Origin frames 1.27° × 0.85° at 1.48″ per pixel, so it fills 9% 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	5 min30 subs	5 min30 subs	10 min62 subs
15 s	8 min30 subs	8 min30 subs	10 min41 subs
30 s	15 min30 subs	15 min30 subs	15 min30 subs

About the Spindle Galaxy

An edge-on lenticular with a thin dust lane. Small, but its surface brightness is decent.

M102, NGC 5866 · Galaxy in Draco · magnitude 9.9 · 4.7′ × 1.9′ · best in Apr, May, Jun. Reachable from mid-northern latitudes (UK, northern US, central Europe) and from the south.

Galaxies are broadband targets: their light is mostly starlight spread across the spectrum, so a dual-band filter throws most of it away and makes things slower, not faster. Shoot without a filter (or with a plain UV/IR cut) and rely on total time and a dark sky. The core of a galaxy is usually many times brighter than its outer disc, so a short stack shows the nucleus long before the arms; the figures here are for the arms and disc, not the core.

Field rotation in Alt-Az mode crops the edges of the stack over a long session, so on a big galaxy re-centre now and then or use EQ mode where your scope supports it.

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 Spindle Galaxy with your Origin? Did the solid figure match?Anonymous, one tap. It is how the model gets calibrated.

Have an image of the Spindle Galaxy 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 Spindle Galaxy · All targets for the Origin