How long to image the Omega Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF II
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the DwarfLab DWARF II needs about 1 h 49 min (438 subs of 15 s) for a solid image of the Omega Nebula. A quick look takes 27 min; a showpiece 7 h 17 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 59 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it fills 10% 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 | 13 min54 subs | 54 min215 subs | 3 h 35 min860 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 14 min56 subs | 55 min222 subs | 3 h 42 min887 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 15 min59 subs | 59 min235 subs | 3 h 55 min939 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 17 min67 subs | 1 h 06 min266 subs | 4 h 26 min1,064 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 20 min79 subs | 1 h 19 min316 subs | 5 h 16 min1,263 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 27 min110 subs | 1 h 49 min438 subs | 7 h 17 min1,750 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 42 min168 subs | 2 h 47 min670 subs | 11 h2,678 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 1 h 04 min258 subs | 4 h 17 min1,030 subs | 17 h4,120 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 1 h 52 min450 subs | 7 h 30 min1,799 subs | 30 h7,194 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 2 h 22 min of run time. The DWARF II’s battery (rated about 3 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 10000mAh 18W18 W PD input; runs while charging.
- 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 DWARF II →
How it frames
The Omega Nebula is 11′ across. The DWARF II frames 3.19° × 1.79° at 2.99″ per pixel, so it fills 10% of the frame’s short side.
Filters
The Omega Nebula is an emission target, where a dual-band filter would normally cut the time several-fold from a lit sky, but the DWARF II has no dual-band option: Two built-in filters, VIS and Astro (IR-pass); no dual-band. The optional UHC filter is no longer sold. The figures above are for the Astro position, and a darker sky is the lever that remains.
About the Omega Nebula
A bright, compact swan-shaped emission nebula, one of the brightest in the sky per unit area. Excellent from suburban skies.
M17, NGC 6618, Swan Nebula · Emission nebula in Sagittarius · magnitude 6.0 · 11′ · 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 II
The original pocket scope. 24 mm aperture and tiny 1.45 µm pixels mean it is slow per pixel, so bin or downsample and be patient.
15 s is the hard maximum in any mode; DwarfLab recommends EQ mode at 15 s. Two built-in filters, VIS and Astro (IR-pass); no dual-band. The optional UHC filter is no longer sold.
The DWARF II uses fixed 15 s subs, so the only levers you have are the sky you shoot from, the filter, and total time.
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 Omega Nebula from a DWARF II? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.
Same target, other telescopes
- Omega Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50: 23 min from Bortle 6
- Omega Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 26 min from Bortle 6
- Omega Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30: 26 min from Bortle 6
- Omega Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 27 min from Bortle 6
- Omega Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 30 min from Bortle 6
- Omega Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 23 min from Bortle 6
- Omega Nebula with the DwarfLab Draco: 18 min from Bortle 6
- Omega Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera II: 32 min from Bortle 6
- Omega Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 1 h 12 min from Bortle 6
- Omega Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 31 min from Bortle 6
- Omega Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 1 h 09 min from Bortle 6
- Omega Nebula with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 29 min from Bortle 6
- Omega Nebula with the Unistellar Odyssey: 2 h 11 min from Bortle 6
- Omega Nebula with the Celestron Origin: 9 min from Bortle 6
- Omega Nebula with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 12 min from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the Omega Nebula · All targets for the DWARF II