How long to image the Omega Nebula with the DwarfLab Draco
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the DwarfLab Draco needs about 18 min (37 subs of 30 s with the built-in dual-narrowband (Hα + OIII) filter) for a solid image of the Omega Nebula. A quick look takes 5 min; a showpiece 1 h 14 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 15 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it fills 15% 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 min10 subs | 15 min30 subs | 53 min107 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 5 min10 subs | 15 min30 subs | 54 min108 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 5 min10 subs | 15 min30 subs | 55 min110 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 5 min10 subs | 15 min30 subs | 58 min116 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 5 min10 subs | 16 min32 subs | 1 h 02 min125 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 5 min10 subs | 18 min37 subs | 1 h 14 min148 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 6 min12 subs | 24 min48 subs | 1 h 35 min190 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 8 min16 subs | 32 min64 subs | 2 h 08 min256 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 12 min25 subs | 50 min100 subs | 3 h 19 min398 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 24 min of run time. The Draco’s battery (rated about 5 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 20000mAhRated 5 h on its 10,000 mAh battery. DwarfLab has not published the charging input, so check PD support before relying on it mid-session.
- red LED head torchRed light keeps your night vision; white light costs you twenty minutes of dark adaptation every time.
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How it frames
The Omega Nebula is 11′ across. The Draco frames 1.66° × 1.24° at 1.46″ per pixel, so it fills 15% of the frame’s short side.
Longer subs
Auto Mode picks the exposure; Pro Mode allows up to 300 s, held by built-in guiding and field derotation. The 30 s default here is our assumption. Time for a solid image by sub length:
| Sub length | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 s | 15 min30 subs | 16 min32 subs | 24 min48 subs |
| 60 s | 30 min30 subs | 30 min30 subs | 30 min30 subs |
| 120 s | 1 h30 subs | 1 h30 subs | 1 h30 subs |
| 300 s | 2 h 30 min30 subs | 2 h 30 min30 subs | 2 h 30 min30 subs |
With and without the dual-band filter
| Filter | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No filter | 15 min30 subs | 18 min36 subs | 44 min89 subs |
| dual-narrowband (Hα + OIII) | 15 min30 subs | 16 min32 subs | 24 min48 subs |
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 Draco
DwarfLab’s big scope: 90 mm of folded f/3.8 optics, the most aperture of any Seestar or DWARF, a narrow 13 nm dual-band filter and 300 s subs with built-in guiding. A small-target scope; big nebulae need its mosaic mode.
Auto Mode picks the exposure; Pro Mode allows up to 300 s, held by built-in guiding and field derotation. The 30 s default here is our assumption. Built-in Hα + OIII dual-narrowband filter, 13 nm per line; the SHO Edition adds an SII option.
Longer subs matter most under dark skies, where read noise rather than skyglow sets the floor. From a city the difference between 30 s and 300 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 Omega Nebula from a Draco? 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 DWARF II: 1 h 49 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 Draco