How long to image the M14 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2 needs about 48 min (289 subs of 10 s) for a solid image of the M14. A quick look takes 12 min; a showpiece 3 h 12 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 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 11% 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 | 5 min32 subs | 21 min125 subs | 1 h 23 min499 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 5 min33 subs | 22 min130 subs | 1 h 26 min519 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 6 min35 subs | 23 min140 subs | 1 h 33 min557 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 7 min41 subs | 27 min163 subs | 1 h 48 min649 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 8 min50 subs | 33 min199 subs | 2 h 12 min795 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 12 min73 subs | 48 min289 subs | 3 h 12 min1,153 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 19 min115 subs | 1 h 16 min459 subs | 5 h 06 min1,835 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 30 min181 subs | 2 h 01 min724 subs | 8 h 02 min2,893 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 54 min322 subs | 3 h 35 min1,288 subs | 14 h5,151 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 1 h 02 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 M14 is 11′ across. The Vespera Pro 2 frames 1.65° × 1.65° at 1.68″ per pixel, so it fills 11% 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 | 23 min140 subs | 33 min199 subs | 1 h 16 min459 subs |
| 20 s | 20 min61 subs | 30 min91 subs | 1 h 13 min221 subs |
| 30 s | 19 min39 subs | 29 min59 subs | 1 h 12 min145 subs |
About the M14
A fainter, more distant globular in Ophiuchus. Takes longer than its neighbours to resolve.
NGC 6402 · Globular cluster in Ophiuchus · magnitude 7.6 · 11′ · best in May, Jun, Jul. Reachable from mid-northern latitudes (UK, northern US, central Europe) and from the south.
Globular clusters are point sources packed tight, so they come quickly: the core resolves into stars within a handful of minutes on any smart scope. More time deepens the halo and pulls in the faint outer members. Use short subs so the core does not saturate into a white blob, and no filter.
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 M14 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
- M14 with the ZWO Seestar S50: 23 min from Bortle 6
- M14 with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 25 min from Bortle 6
- M14 with the ZWO Seestar S30: 24 min from Bortle 6
- M14 with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 26 min from Bortle 6
- M14 with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 33 min from Bortle 6
- M14 with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 23 min from Bortle 6
- M14 with the DwarfLab Draco: 19 min from Bortle 6
- M14 with the DwarfLab DWARF II: 1 h 16 min from Bortle 6
- M14 with the Vaonis Vespera II: 23 min from Bortle 6
- M14 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 50 min from Bortle 6
- M14 with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 22 min from Bortle 6
- M14 with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 20 min from Bortle 6
- M14 with the Unistellar Odyssey: 1 h 30 min from Bortle 6
- M14 with the Celestron Origin: 6 min from Bortle 6
- M14 with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 8 min from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the M14 · All targets for the Vespera Pro 2