How long to image the M103 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2 needs about 12 min (73 subs of 10 s) for a solid image of the M103. A quick look takes 3 min; a showpiece 49 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 8 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 6% 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 | 2 min11 subs | 7 min43 subs | 28 min170 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 2 min11 subs | 7 min44 subs | 29 min174 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 2 min12 subs | 8 min46 subs | 30 min181 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 2 min13 subs | 8 min50 subs | 33 min198 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 2 min15 subs | 9 min57 subs | 37 min225 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 3 min19 subs | 12 min73 subs | 49 min292 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 4 min27 subs | 17 min105 subs | 1 h 10 min419 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 6 min39 subs | 26 min154 subs | 1 h 42 min615 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 11 min65 subs | 43 min259 subs | 2 h 52 min1,035 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 16 min of run time. The Vespera Pro 2’s battery (rated about 11 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.)
- USB-C PD power bank 20000mAh 30WExternal bank extends the 11 h battery.
- red LED head torchRed light keeps your night vision; white light costs you twenty minutes of dark adaptation every time.
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Everything that fits the Vespera Pro 2 →
How it frames
The M103 is 6′ across. The Vespera Pro 2 frames 1.65° × 1.65° at 1.68″ per pixel, so it fills 6% 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 | 8 min46 subs | 9 min57 subs | 17 min105 subs |
| 20 s | 10 min30 subs | 10 min30 subs | 17 min51 subs |
| 30 s | 15 min30 subs | 15 min30 subs | 17 min34 subs |
About the M103
A small, fan-shaped open cluster in Cassiopeia, the last object in Messier's own list.
NGC 581 · Open cluster in Cassiopeia · magnitude 7.4 · 6′ · best in Sep, Oct, Nov. Reachable from mid-northern latitudes (UK, northern US, central Europe) and from the south.
Open clusters are the easiest targets in the sky. The stars are bright, so the aim is colour and tight stars rather than depth: short subs, no filter, and stop before the bright members saturate. The nominal time here gets you clean star colour; more integration only adds background stars.
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.
Have an image of the M103 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
- M103 with the ZWO Seestar S50: 6 min from Bortle 6
- M103 with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 6 min from Bortle 6
- M103 with the ZWO Seestar S30: 6 min from Bortle 6
- M103 with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 7 min from Bortle 6
- M103 with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 9 min from Bortle 6
- M103 with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 8 min from Bortle 6
- M103 with the DwarfLab Draco: 15 min from Bortle 6
- M103 with the DwarfLab DWARF II: 19 min from Bortle 6
- M103 with the Vaonis Vespera II: 6 min from Bortle 6
- M103 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 13 min from Bortle 6
- M103 with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 6 min from Bortle 6
- M103 with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 5 min from Bortle 6
- M103 with the Unistellar Odyssey: 20 min from Bortle 6
- M103 with the Celestron Origin: 5 min from Bortle 6
- M103 with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 5 min from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the M103 · All targets for the Vespera Pro 2