How long should I image the Trifid Nebula with the Origin Mark II from a Bortle 6 sky?

About 24 min of total integration for a solid image, or 1 h 37 min for a showpiece. A quick look takes 6 min.

How many subs is that on the Origin Mark II?

At the default 10 s sub length, 146 subs for a solid image from Bortle 6 and 47 from Bortle 3.

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

Yes. It is an emission-line object; from Bortle 6 the filter cuts the solid-image time from 24 min to 12 min.

How long to image the Trifid Nebula with the Celestron Origin Mark II

From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the Celestron Origin Mark II needs about 24 min (146 subs of 10 s) for a solid image of the Trifid Nebula. A quick look takes 6 min; a showpiece 1 h 37 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 8 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 63% of the frame’s short side.

Trifid Nebula with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 10 s subs.
Sky	Quick lookTarget obvious, still noisy	SolidClean enough to share	ShowpieceSmooth faint detail, print-worthy
Bortle 1Excellent dark site	2 min10 subs	6 min38 subs	25 min150 subs
Bortle 2Typical dark site	2 min11 subs	7 min41 subs	27 min163 subs
Bortle 3Rural	2 min12 subs	8 min47 subs	31 min188 subs
Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition	3 min16 subs	10 min63 subs	41 min249 subs
Bortle 5Suburban	4 min22 subs	14 min87 subs	58 min346 subs
Bortle 6Bright suburban	6 min37 subs	24 min146 subs	1 h 37 min584 subs
Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition	11 min65 subs	43 min260 subs	2 h 53 min1,038 subs
Bortle 8City	18 min109 subs	1 h 13 min436 subs	4 h 50 min1,742 subs
Bortle 9Inner city	34 min203 subs	2 h 15 min811 subs	9 h 01 min3,244 subs

Adjust in the calculator

Power and kit for this session

Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 32 min of run time. The Origin Mark II’s battery (rated about 6 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.)

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How it frames

The Trifid Nebula is 28′ across. The Origin Mark II frames 1.32° × 0.75° at 1.23″ per pixel, so it fills 63% of the frame’s short side.

Longer subs

10 s auto subs (15 s with the Nebula Filter); manual 1 to 30 s on the alt-az mount, longer only with the EQ wedge, and 60 s and up needs the StarSense Autoguider too. Celestron warns the f/2.2 optics saturate quickly without the filter. Time for a solid image by sub length:

Sub length	Bortle 3	Bortle 5	Bortle 7
10 s	8 min47 subs	14 min87 subs	43 min260 subs
15 s	8 min31 subs	14 min58 subs	43 min173 subs
30 s	15 min30 subs	15 min30 subs	43 min86 subs

With and without the dual-band filter

Solid quality, default sub length.
Filter	Bortle 3	Bortle 5	Bortle 7
No filter	8 min47 subs	14 min87 subs	43 min260 subs
dual-band (Nebula Filter), drawer	7 min41 subs	9 min53 subs	18 min106 subs

The Origin Mark II has no built-in dual-band filter. Filter drawer takes 1.25-inch or 2-inch filters, including dual-band; Celestron sells an optional Nebula Filter. On an emission target like this it is the single biggest upgrade you can make.

About the Trifid Nebula

Red emission, blue reflection and dark lanes in one object. Shoot it without a filter to keep the blue, or dual-band for the red.

M20, NGC 6514 · Emission nebula in Sagittarius · magnitude 6.3 · 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 Celestron Origin Mark II

The Origin Mark II (late 2025): the same 6-inch f/2.2 RASA with an 8 MP IMX678 in place of the original 6 MP IMX178. Smaller pixels for finer detail, a quieter sensor, and still the fastest system here by a wide margin.

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 Origin Mark IICelestron store Direct Amazon UK Amazon USThe Celestron 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 Trifid Nebula with your Origin Mark II? Did the solid figure match?Anonymous, one tap. It is how the model gets calibrated.

Have an image of the Trifid Nebula from a Origin Mark 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 Trifid Nebula · All targets for the Origin Mark II