How long to image the Eagle Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF 3
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the DwarfLab DWARF 3 needs about 1 h 16 min (305 subs of 15 s with the built-in dual-band filter) for a solid image of the Eagle Nebula. A quick look takes 19 min; a showpiece 5 h 05 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 49 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it fills 35% 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 | 11 min46 subs | 46 min184 subs | 3 h 04 min735 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 12 min47 subs | 47 min188 subs | 3 h 07 min750 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 12 min49 subs | 49 min195 subs | 3 h 14 min778 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 13 min53 subs | 53 min212 subs | 3 h 31 min846 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 15 min60 subs | 1 h239 subs | 3 h 58 min954 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 19 min77 subs | 1 h 16 min305 subs | 5 h 05 min1,220 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 27 min108 subs | 1 h 48 min432 subs | 7 h 11 min1,726 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 39 min157 subs | 2 h 37 min628 subs | 10 h2,511 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 1 h 05 min262 subs | 4 h 22 min1,047 subs | 17 h4,187 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 1 h 39 min of run time. The DWARF 3’s battery (rated about 5 h 30 min) 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 18W18 W PD input and it runs while charging; needs a C-to-C cable for PD.
- 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 3 →
How it frames
The Eagle Nebula is 35′ × 28′ across. The DWARF 3 frames 2.93° × 1.65° at 2.75″ per pixel, so it fills 35% of the frame’s short side.
Longer subs
Auto mode caps subs at 15 s; 30 s and longer need EQ mode, and 60 s is the ceiling on the tele camera. Time for a solid image by sub length:
| Sub length | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 s | 49 min195 subs | 1 h239 subs | 1 h 48 min432 subs |
| 30 s | 42 min85 subs | 53 min107 subs | 1 h 41 min203 subs |
| 60 s | 39 min40 subs | 50 min51 subs | 1 h 38 min99 subs |
With and without the dual-band filter
| Filter | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Astro (no light-pollution filter) | 48 min192 subs | 1 h 24 min336 subs | 4 h 01 min966 subs |
| dual-band | 49 min195 subs | 1 h239 subs | 1 h 48 min432 subs |
About the Eagle Nebula
Home of the Pillars of Creation. The cluster comes fast; the pillars and surrounding nebulosity need a dual-band filter and patience.
M16, NGC 6611, IC 4703 · Emission nebula in Serpens · magnitude 6.0 · 35′ × 28′ · best in Jun, Jul, Aug. Reachable from mid-northern latitudes (UK, northern US, central Europe) and from the south.
Emission nebulae glow in a few narrow lines, mostly hydrogen-alpha (deep red) and doubly ionised oxygen (teal). A dual-band filter passes those lines and blocks most skyglow, which is why it cuts the time needed from a suburban sky so dramatically. Use it. From a genuinely dark site the gain is smaller because there is less skyglow to block, and read noise becomes the limit, which is where longer subs (EQ mode, or Expert Mode on a Vespera) earn their keep.
Stars lose colour through a dual-band filter; a short broadband stack blended in fixes that if you care.
About the DwarfLab DWARF 3
Small pixels on a 35 mm f/4.3 lens give a sharper image than its aperture suggests, and EQ mode with 60 s subs makes it the read-noise winner in dark skies.
Auto mode caps subs at 15 s; 30 s and longer need EQ mode, and 60 s is the ceiling on the tele camera. Three built-in filters: VIS, Astro (430 to 690 nm) and dual-band Hα 656 nm / OIII 501 nm.
Longer subs matter most under dark skies, where read noise rather than skyglow sets the floor. From a city the difference between 15 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 Eagle Nebula from a DWARF 3? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.
Same target, other telescopes
- Eagle Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50: 1 h 01 min from Bortle 6
- Eagle Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 1 h 08 min from Bortle 6
- Eagle Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30: 1 h 11 min from Bortle 6
- Eagle Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 1 h 14 min from Bortle 6
- Eagle Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 1 h from Bortle 6
- Eagle Nebula with the DwarfLab Draco: 48 min from Bortle 6
- Eagle Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF II: 5 h 25 min from Bortle 6
- Eagle Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera II: 1 h 35 min from Bortle 6
- Eagle Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 3 h 33 min from Bortle 6
- Eagle Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 1 h 31 min from Bortle 6
- Eagle Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 3 h 23 min from Bortle 6
- Eagle Nebula with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 1 h 26 min from Bortle 6
- Eagle Nebula with the Unistellar Odyssey: 6 h 39 min from Bortle 6
- Eagle Nebula with the Celestron Origin: 25 min from Bortle 6
- Eagle Nebula with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 35 min from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the Eagle Nebula · All targets for the DWARF 3