How long to image the Trifid Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF II
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the DwarfLab DWARF II needs about 3 h 48 min (914 subs of 15 s) for a solid image of the Trifid Nebula. A quick look takes 57 min; a showpiece 15 h. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 1 h 56 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it fills 26% 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 | 26 min106 subs | 1 h 45 min421 subs | 7 h1,682 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 27 min109 subs | 1 h 49 min436 subs | 7 h 16 min1,743 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 29 min117 subs | 1 h 56 min465 subs | 7 h 44 min1,857 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 33 min134 subs | 2 h 13 min534 subs | 8 h 54 min2,135 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 40 min161 subs | 2 h 41 min644 subs | 11 h2,575 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 57 min229 subs | 3 h 48 min914 subs | 15 h3,654 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 1 h 29 min357 subs | 5 h 57 min1,428 subs | 24 h5,710 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 2 h 19 min557 subs | 9 h 16 min2,226 subs | 37 h8,902 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 4 h 05 min982 subs | 16 h3,928 subs | 65 h15,711 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 4 h 57 min of run time. The DWARF II’s battery is rated at about 3 h, so the session needs an external power bank. (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.
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Everything that fits the DWARF II →
How it frames
The Trifid Nebula is 28′ across. The DWARF II frames 3.19° × 1.79° at 2.99″ per pixel, so it fills 26% of the frame’s short side.
Filters
The Trifid 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 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 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 Trifid 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
- Trifid Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50: 44 min from Bortle 6
- Trifid Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 49 min from Bortle 6
- Trifid Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30: 51 min from Bortle 6
- Trifid Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 53 min from Bortle 6
- Trifid Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 55 min from Bortle 6
- Trifid Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 43 min from Bortle 6
- Trifid Nebula with the DwarfLab Draco: 35 min from Bortle 6
- Trifid Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera II: 1 h 07 min from Bortle 6
- Trifid Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 2 h 30 min from Bortle 6
- Trifid Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 1 h 04 min from Bortle 6
- Trifid Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 2 h 23 min from Bortle 6
- Trifid Nebula with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 1 h from Bortle 6
- Trifid Nebula with the Unistellar Odyssey: 4 h 39 min from Bortle 6
- Trifid Nebula with the Celestron Origin: 18 min from Bortle 6
- Trifid Nebula with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 24 min from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the Trifid Nebula · All targets for the DWARF II