How long to image the Dumbbell Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF II
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the DwarfLab DWARF II needs about 1 h 30 min (361 subs of 15 s) for a solid image of the Dumbbell Nebula. A quick look takes 23 min; a showpiece 6 h 01 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 50 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it fills 7% 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 | 12 min47 subs | 46 min185 subs | 3 h 05 min739 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 12 min48 subs | 48 min191 subs | 3 h 10 min761 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 13 min51 subs | 50 min201 subs | 3 h 20 min802 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 14 min57 subs | 56 min226 subs | 3 h 45 min901 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 17 min67 subs | 1 h 06 min265 subs | 4 h 24 min1,058 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 23 min91 subs | 1 h 30 min361 subs | 6 h 01 min1,444 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 34 min137 subs | 2 h 16 min545 subs | 9 h 04 min2,178 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 52 min208 subs | 3 h 27 min830 subs | 14 h3,319 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 1 h 30 min360 subs | 5 h 59 min1,438 subs | 24 h5,752 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 1 h 57 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.
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Everything that fits the DWARF II →
How it frames
The Dumbbell Nebula is 8′ × 5.7′ across. The DWARF II frames 3.19° × 1.79° at 2.99″ per pixel, so it fills 7% of the frame’s short side.
Filters
The Dumbbell 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 Dumbbell Nebula
The biggest, brightest planetary nebula for northern observers. Bright enough to look good in twenty minutes, and dual-band brings out the outer shell.
M27, NGC 6853 · Planetary nebula in Vulpecula · magnitude 7.4 · 8′ × 5.7′ · best in Jun, Jul, Aug. Reachable from mid-northern latitudes (UK, northern US, central Europe) and from the south.
Planetary nebulae are small but intensely bright per pixel in OIII and H-alpha, so they respond very well to a dual-band filter and do not need much time for the main shell. The faint outer halos most of them have are a different proposition and need hours. Keep subs short if the central region saturates.
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 Dumbbell 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
- Dumbbell Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50: 20 min from Bortle 6
- Dumbbell Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 22 min from Bortle 6
- Dumbbell Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30: 23 min from Bortle 6
- Dumbbell Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 24 min from Bortle 6
- Dumbbell Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 27 min from Bortle 6
- Dumbbell Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 20 min from Bortle 6
- Dumbbell Nebula with the DwarfLab Draco: 16 min from Bortle 6
- Dumbbell Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera II: 27 min from Bortle 6
- Dumbbell Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 1 h from Bortle 6
- Dumbbell Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 26 min from Bortle 6
- Dumbbell Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 57 min from Bortle 6
- Dumbbell Nebula with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 24 min from Bortle 6
- Dumbbell Nebula with the Unistellar Odyssey: 1 h 47 min from Bortle 6
- Dumbbell Nebula with the Celestron Origin: 7 min from Bortle 6
- Dumbbell Nebula with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 10 min from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the Dumbbell Nebula · All targets for the DWARF II