How long to image the Omega Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2 needs about 1 h 09 min (414 subs of 10 s) for a solid image of the Omega Nebula. A quick look takes 17 min; a showpiece 4 h 36 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 32 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 | 7 min43 subs | 29 min172 subs | 1 h 54 min685 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 7 min45 subs | 30 min179 subs | 1 h 59 min715 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 8 min49 subs | 32 min193 subs | 2 h 08 min771 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 9 min57 subs | 38 min227 subs | 2 h 31 min908 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 12 min71 subs | 47 min281 subs | 3 h 07 min1,124 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 17 min104 subs | 1 h 09 min414 subs | 4 h 36 min1,655 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 28 min167 subs | 1 h 51 min667 subs | 7 h 25 min2,668 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 44 min265 subs | 2 h 57 min1,060 subs | 12 h4,240 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 1 h 19 min475 subs | 5 h 16 min1,898 subs | 21 h7,592 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 1 h 30 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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How it frames
The Omega Nebula 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 | 32 min193 subs | 47 min281 subs | 1 h 51 min667 subs |
| 20 s | 28 min83 subs | 42 min128 subs | 1 h 47 min321 subs |
| 30 s | 26 min53 subs | 41 min82 subs | 1 h 45 min211 subs |
With and without the dual-band filter
| Filter | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No filter | 32 min193 subs | 47 min281 subs | 1 h 51 min667 subs |
| dual-band (Dual Band filter), clip-on | 42 min253 subs | 47 min280 subs | 1 h 06 min398 subs |
The Vespera Pro 2 has no built-in dual-band filter. Optional clip-on Vaonis filters: dual-band, light-pollution (CLS) and solar. On an emission target like this it is the single biggest upgrade you can make.
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 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 Omega Nebula 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
- 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 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 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 Vespera Pro 2