How long to image the M106 with the DwarfLab DWARF II
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the DwarfLab DWARF II needs about 3 h 42 min (887 subs of 15 s) for a solid image of the M106. A quick look takes 55 min; a showpiece 15 h. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 1 h 53 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it fills 18% 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 | 26 min103 subs | 1 h 42 min409 subs | 6 h 49 min1,635 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 26 min106 subs | 1 h 46 min424 subs | 7 h 03 min1,694 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 28 min113 subs | 1 h 53 min452 subs | 7 h 31 min1,805 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 32 min130 subs | 2 h 10 min519 subs | 8 h 38 min2,074 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 39 min157 subs | 2 h 36 min625 subs | 10 h2,500 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 55 min222 subs | 3 h 42 min887 subs | 15 h3,546 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 1 h 27 min347 subs | 5 h 46 min1,385 subs | 23 h5,539 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 2 h 15 min540 subs | 9 h2,159 subs | 36 h8,634 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 3 h 58 min953 subs | 16 h3,809 subs | 63 h15,234 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 4 h 48 min of run time. The DWARF II’s battery is rated at about 3 h, so the session needs an external power bank. (Bortle 6, solid image; we allow 30% over the integration time.)
- USB-C PD power bank 10000mAh 18W18 W PD input; runs while charging.
- 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 DWARF II →
How it frames
The M106 is 19′ × 8′ across. The DWARF II frames 3.19° × 1.79° at 2.99″ per pixel, so it fills 18% of the frame’s short side.
About the M106
A big, bright spiral with anomalous red arms driven by its black hole. Dual-band brings the extra arms out.
NGC 4258 · Galaxy in Canes Venatici · magnitude 8.4 · 19′ × 8′ · best in Mar, Apr, May. 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 DwarfLab DWARF II
The original pocket scope. 24 mm aperture and tiny 1.45 µm pixels mean it is slow per pixel, so bin or downsample and be patient.
15 s is the hard maximum in any mode; DwarfLab recommends EQ mode at 15 s. Two built-in filters, VIS and Astro (IR-pass); no dual-band. The optional UHC filter is no longer sold.
The DWARF II uses fixed 15 s subs, so the only levers you have are the sky you shoot from, the filter, and total time.
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 M106 from a DWARF II? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.
Same target, other telescopes
- M106 with the ZWO Seestar S50: 1 h 05 min from Bortle 6
- M106 with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 1 h 11 min from Bortle 6
- M106 with the ZWO Seestar S30: 1 h 08 min from Bortle 6
- M106 with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 1 h 15 min from Bortle 6
- M106 with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 1 h 34 min from Bortle 6
- M106 with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 1 h 05 min from Bortle 6
- M106 with the DwarfLab Draco: 53 min from Bortle 6
- M106 with the Vaonis Vespera II: 1 h 05 min from Bortle 6
- M106 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 2 h 25 min from Bortle 6
- M106 with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 1 h 02 min from Bortle 6
- M106 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 2 h 19 min from Bortle 6
- M106 with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 59 min from Bortle 6
- M106 with the Unistellar Odyssey: 4 h 31 min from Bortle 6
- M106 with the Celestron Origin: 17 min from Bortle 6
- M106 with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 24 min from Bortle 6