How long to image the M110 with the ZWO Seestar S50
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the ZWO Seestar S50 needs about 3 h 46 min (1,359 subs of 10 s) for a solid image of the M110. A quick look takes 57 min; a showpiece 15 h. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 1 h 23 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 51% 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 | 17 min104 subs | 1 h 09 min414 subs | 4 h 35 min1,653 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 18 min111 subs | 1 h 14 min443 subs | 4 h 55 min1,769 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 21 min125 subs | 1 h 23 min498 subs | 5 h 31 min1,989 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 26 min158 subs | 1 h 45 min631 subs | 7 h2,521 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 35 min211 subs | 2 h 20 min841 subs | 9 h 21 min3,364 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 57 min340 subs | 3 h 46 min1,359 subs | 15 h5,434 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 1 h 38 min587 subs | 6 h 31 min2,345 subs | 26 h9,377 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 2 h 41 min969 subs | 11 h3,875 subs | 43 h15,500 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 4 h 57 min1,785 subs | 20 h7,140 subs | 79 h28,558 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 4 h 54 min of run time. The Seestar S50’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.)
- USB-C power bank 20000mAh 5V 3AThe S50 draws 5 V 3 A over USB-C and runs while charging; no PD needed.
- Seestar S50 dew shieldThe built-in heater copes with most nights; a shield helps in heavy dew and blocks stray light.
- red LED head torchRed light keeps your night vision; white light costs you twenty minutes of dark adaptation every time.
Affiliate links: the retailer pays us a small commission and you pay the same price. These are search links to the named product, not endorsements of a particular listing; check the listing matches your model.
Everything that fits the Seestar S50 →
How it frames
The M110 is 22′ × 11′ across. The Seestar S50 frames 1.28° × 0.72° at 2.39″ per pixel, so it fills 51% of the frame’s short side.
Longer subs
10, 20 and 30 s in Alt-Az; 60 s only in EQ mode (app 2.5 and later). Time for a solid image by sub length:
| Sub length | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 s | 1 h 23 min498 subs | 2 h 20 min841 subs | 6 h 31 min2,345 subs |
| 20 s | 1 h 09 min209 subs | 2 h 07 min381 subs | 6 h 17 min1,132 subs |
| 30 s | 1 h 05 min130 subs | 2 h 02 min245 subs | 6 h 13 min746 subs |
| 60 s | 1 h61 subs | 1 h 58 min118 subs | 6 h 08 min369 subs |
Leave the dual-band filter out for the M110. It is a galaxy, and it shines right across the spectrum. A dual-band filter keeps two emission lines and throws the rest away, so most of the light you came for is being stopped along with the sky. From a Bortle 6 sky it would be roughly 12 times slower.
About the M110
Andromeda's larger, diffuse elliptical companion. Low surface brightness; it fades into the background in short stacks.
NGC 205 · Galaxy in Andromeda · magnitude 8.1 · 22′ × 11′ · best in Sep, Oct, Nov. 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 ZWO Seestar S50
The scope that made smart astrophotography mainstream. 50 mm triplet, 2 MP sensor, dual-band filter on a wheel. Alt-Az stacking at 10 s, EQ mode unlocks 60 s. Out of production since 2026 and replaced by the S50 Pro, but there are a great many in use.
10, 20 and 30 s in Alt-Az; 60 s only in EQ mode (app 2.5 and later). Built-in dual-band light-pollution filter, switchable in the app.
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 60 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 M110 from a Seestar S50? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.
Same target, other telescopes
- M110 with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 4 h 08 min from Bortle 6
- M110 with the ZWO Seestar S30: 3 h 58 min from Bortle 6
- M110 with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 4 h 23 min from Bortle 6
- M110 with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 5 h 28 min from Bortle 6
- M110 with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 3 h 45 min from Bortle 6
- M110 with the DwarfLab Draco: 3 h 06 min from Bortle 6
- M110 with the DwarfLab DWARF II: 13 h from Bortle 6
- M110 with the Vaonis Vespera II: 3 h 46 min from Bortle 6
- M110 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 8 h 28 min from Bortle 6
- M110 with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 3 h 36 min from Bortle 6
- M110 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 8 h 04 min from Bortle 6
- M110 with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 3 h 28 min from Bortle 6
- M110 with the Unistellar Odyssey: 16 h from Bortle 6
- M110 with the Celestron Origin: 1 h from Bortle 6
- M110 with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 1 h 22 min from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the M110 · All targets for the Seestar S50