How long should I image the Eagle Nebula with the Vespera II from a Bortle 6 sky?

About 1 h 35 min of total integration for a solid image, or 6 h 20 min for a showpiece. A quick look takes 24 min.

How many subs is that on the Vespera II?

At the default 10 s sub length, 571 subs for a solid image from Bortle 6 and 220 from Bortle 3.

Does a dual-band filter help on the Eagle Nebula?

Yes. It is an emission-line object; from Bortle 6 the filter cuts the solid-image time from 1 h 35 min to 1 h 01 min.

How long to image the Eagle Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera II

From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the Vaonis Vespera II needs about 1 h 35 min (571 subs of 10 s) for a solid image of the Eagle Nebula. A quick look takes 24 min; a showpiece 6 h 20 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 37 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 41% of the frame’s short side.

Eagle Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera II: 10 s subs.
Sky	Quick lookTarget obvious, still noisy	SolidClean enough to share	ShowpieceSmooth faint detail, print-worthy
Bortle 1Excellent dark site	8 min47 subs	31 min186 subs	2 h 04 min743 subs
Bortle 2Typical dark site	8 min50 subs	33 min198 subs	2 h 12 min791 subs
Bortle 3Rural	9 min55 subs	37 min220 subs	2 h 27 min880 subs
Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition	11 min69 subs	46 min275 subs	3 h 03 min1,097 subs
Bortle 5Suburban	15 min90 subs	1 h360 subs	4 h1,440 subs
Bortle 6Bright suburban	24 min143 subs	1 h 35 min571 subs	6 h 20 min2,282 subs
Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition	40 min243 subs	2 h 42 min972 subs	11 h3,887 subs
Bortle 8City	1 h 06 min399 subs	4 h 26 min1,595 subs	18 h6,379 subs
Bortle 9Inner city	2 h 02 min731 subs	8 h 07 min2,924 subs	32 h11,694 subs

Adjust in the calculator

Power and kit for this session

Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 2 h 04 min of run time. The Vespera II’s battery (rated about 4 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 30WOnly four hours inside; Vaonis specifies a 30 W PD source. C-to-C cable not included.
Amazon UK Amazon US
Vaonis Vespera hygrometer sensorTriggers the built-in demister automatically; the correct dew accessory for the II.
Amazon UK Amazon US
red LED head torchRed light keeps your night vision; white light costs you twenty minutes of dark adaptation every time.
Amazon UK Amazon US

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 Vespera II →

How it frames

The Eagle Nebula is 35′ × 28′ across. The Vespera II frames 2.55° × 1.44° at 2.39″ per pixel, so it fills 41% 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, no EQ mode. Time for a solid image by sub length:

Sub length	Bortle 3	Bortle 5	Bortle 7
10 s	37 min220 subs	1 h360 subs	2 h 42 min972 subs
20 s	31 min94 subs	55 min164 subs	2 h 36 min470 subs
30 s	29 min59 subs	53 min106 subs	2 h 35 min310 subs

With and without the dual-band filter

Solid quality, default sub length.
Filter	Bortle 3	Bortle 5	Bortle 7
No filter	37 min220 subs	1 h360 subs	2 h 42 min972 subs
dual-band (Dual Band filter), clip-on	43 min259 subs	50 min302 subs	1 h 21 min489 subs

The Vespera II has no built-in dual-band filter. Optional clip-on Vaonis filters: dual-band, light-pollution (CLS) and solar; the app detects which is fitted. On an emission target like this it is the single biggest upgrade you can make.

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 Vaonis Vespera II

A 50 mm quadruplet on an 8 MP sensor with Vaonis’s mosaic mode for wide fields. Same optics class as the Seestar S50, four times the pixels.

10 s subs by default; Expert Mode manual targets allow 1 to 30 s. Alt-azimuth only, no EQ mode. Optional clip-on Vaonis filters: dual-band, light-pollution (CLS) and solar; the app detects which is fitted.

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 IIVaonis 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 Eagle Nebula with your Vespera II? Did the solid figure match?Anonymous, one tap. It is how the model gets calibrated.

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

Same target, other telescopes

All telescopes for the Eagle Nebula · All targets for the Vespera II