How long should I image the M110 with the Vespera 3 from a Bortle 6 sky?

About 3 h 36 min of total integration for a solid image, or 14 h for a showpiece. A quick look takes 54 min.

How many subs is that on the Vespera 3?

At the default 10 s sub length, 1,298 subs for a solid image from Bortle 6 and 470 from Bortle 3.

Does a dual-band filter help on the M110?

No. The M110 is a broadband target and a dual-band filter blocks most of its light. Shoot without a filter.

How long to image the M110 with the Vaonis Vespera 3

From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the Vaonis Vespera 3 needs about 3 h 36 min (1,298 subs of 10 s) for a solid image of the M110. A quick look takes 54 min; a showpiece 14 h. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 1 h 18 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 25% of the frame’s short side.

M110 with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 10 s subs.
Sky	Quick lookTarget obvious, still noisy	SolidClean enough to share	ShowpieceSmooth faint detail, print-worthy
Bortle 1Excellent dark site	16 min98 subs	1 h 05 min390 subs	4 h 20 min1,558 subs
Bortle 2Typical dark site	17 min105 subs	1 h 10 min418 subs	4 h 38 min1,669 subs
Bortle 3Rural	20 min118 subs	1 h 18 min470 subs	5 h 13 min1,880 subs
Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition	25 min150 subs	1 h 40 min598 subs	6 h 39 min2,392 subs
Bortle 5Suburban	33 min201 subs	2 h 13 min801 subs	8 h 54 min3,202 subs
Bortle 6Bright suburban	54 min325 subs	3 h 36 min1,298 subs	14 h5,189 subs
Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition	1 h 34 min562 subs	6 h 14 min2,245 subs	25 h8,977 subs
Bortle 8City	2 h 35 min929 subs	10 h3,715 subs	41 h14,857 subs
Bortle 9Inner city	4 h 45 min1,713 subs	19 h6,850 subs	76 h27,398 subs

Adjust in the calculator

Power and kit for this session

Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 4 h 41 min of run time. The Vespera 3’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 30WVaonis says an external bank extends sessions; 30 W PD as for the II and Pro.
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Everything that fits the Vespera 3 →

How it frames

The M110 is 22′ × 11′ across. The Vespera 3 frames 2.60° × 1.46° at 2.44″ per pixel, so it fills 25% 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 widens the field to 4.3° × 2.4°. Time for a solid image by sub length:

Sub length	Bortle 3	Bortle 5	Bortle 7
10 s	1 h 18 min470 subs	2 h 13 min801 subs	6 h 14 min2,245 subs
20 s	1 h 06 min198 subs	2 h 01 min363 subs	6 h 02 min1,085 subs
30 s	1 h 02 min124 subs	1 h 57 min234 subs	5 h 57 min715 subs

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 Vaonis Vespera 3

The 2026 Vespera: same 50 mm quadruplet class as the II on an 8 MP IMX585, with a 24 MP mosaic mode and 11 hours of battery. Per pixel it behaves like a Seestar S50 Pro without the built-in dual-band filter.

10 s subs by default; Expert Mode manual targets allow 1 to 30 s. Alt-azimuth only; CovalENS mosaic widens the field to 4.3° × 2.4°. Optional clip-on Vaonis filters: dual-band, light-pollution (CLS) and solar. The new optical baffle is not a substitute for a CLS 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.

Where to buy the Vespera 3Vaonis store Direct Amazon UK Amazon USThe Vaonis store link is a plain link; the others are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, at no cost to you.

Imaged the M110 with your Vespera 3? Did the solid figure match?Anonymous, one tap. It is how the model gets calibrated.

Have an image of the M110 from a Vespera 3? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.

Same target, other telescopes

All telescopes for the M110 · All targets for the Vespera 3