How long to image the Dumbbell Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro needs about 24 min (144 subs of 10 s with the built-in dual-band (LP filter) filter) for a solid image of the Dumbbell Nebula. A quick look takes 6 min; a showpiece 1 h 36 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 19 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it fills 6% 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 min28 subs | 18 min111 subs | 1 h 13 min441 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 5 min28 subs | 19 min112 subs | 1 h 14 min445 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 5 min29 subs | 19 min114 subs | 1 h 15 min453 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 5 min30 subs | 20 min118 subs | 1 h 19 min472 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 5 min32 subs | 21 min126 subs | 1 h 23 min501 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 6 min36 subs | 24 min144 subs | 1 h 36 min574 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 7 min45 subs | 30 min178 subs | 1 h 59 min712 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 10 min58 subs | 39 min232 subs | 2 h 34 min926 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 14 min87 subs | 58 min346 subs | 3 h 51 min1,384 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 31 min of run time. The Seestar S30 Pro’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 power bank 10000mAh 5V 3A5 V 3 A input and it runs while charging.
- Seestar S30 Pro dew shieldActive anti-dew is built in; a shield adds margin. The S30 Pro front differs from the S30, so check the listing.
- red LED head torchRed light keeps your night vision; white light costs you twenty minutes of dark adaptation every time.
Affiliate links: the retailer pays us a small commission and you pay the same price. These are search links to the named product, not endorsements of a particular listing; check the listing matches your model.
Everything that fits the Seestar S30 Pro →
How it frames
The Dumbbell Nebula is 8′ × 5.7′ across. The Seestar S30 Pro frames 3.99° × 2.24° at 3.74″ per pixel, so it fills 6% of the frame’s short side.
Longer subs
10, 20 and 30 s in Alt-Az; 60 s only in EQ mode, which needs the TH10 head. Time for a solid image by sub length:
| Sub length | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 s | 19 min114 subs | 21 min126 subs | 30 min178 subs |
| 20 s | 15 min46 subs | 17 min52 subs | 26 min79 subs |
| 30 s | 15 min30 subs | 16 min33 subs | 25 min50 subs |
| 60 s | 30 min30 subs | 30 min30 subs | 30 min30 subs |
With and without the dual-band filter
| Filter | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| UV/IR-cut (no light-pollution filter) | 15 min89 subs | 21 min129 subs | 50 min301 subs |
| dual-band (LP filter) | 19 min114 subs | 21 min126 subs | 30 min178 subs |
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 ZWO Seestar S30 Pro
The S30 optics upgraded to a quadruplet in front of an 8 MP IMX585. Same speed per pixel as the S30, four times the pixels, so you can crop hard.
10, 20 and 30 s in Alt-Az; 60 s only in EQ mode, which needs the TH10 head. Built-in UV/IR-cut, dual-band (OIII 30 nm / Hα 20 nm) and dark filters on the telephoto camera.
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 60 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 Dumbbell Nebula from a Seestar S30 Pro? 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 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 DwarfLab DWARF II: 1 h 30 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 Seestar S30 Pro