How long to image the M29 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2 needs about 12 min (70 subs of 10 s) for a solid image of the M29. A quick look takes 3 min; a showpiece 46 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 7 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 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 | 2 min11 subs | 7 min41 subs | 27 min162 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 2 min11 subs | 7 min42 subs | 28 min166 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 2 min11 subs | 7 min44 subs | 29 min173 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 2 min12 subs | 8 min48 subs | 31 min189 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 2 min14 subs | 9 min54 subs | 36 min215 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 3 min18 subs | 12 min70 subs | 46 min278 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 4 min25 subs | 17 min100 subs | 1 h 06 min399 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 6 min37 subs | 24 min147 subs | 1 h 38 min586 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 10 min62 subs | 41 min247 subs | 2 h 44 min986 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 15 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.
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 Vespera Pro 2 →
How it frames
The M29 is 7′ across. The Vespera Pro 2 frames 1.65° × 1.65° at 1.68″ per pixel, so it fills 7% 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 | 7 min44 subs | 9 min54 subs | 17 min100 subs |
| 20 s | 10 min30 subs | 10 min30 subs | 16 min49 subs |
| 30 s | 15 min30 subs | 15 min30 subs | 16 min32 subs |
About the M29
A small open cluster in the heart of Cygnus, a handful of bright stars against rich Milky Way.
NGC 6913 · Open cluster in Cygnus · magnitude 6.6 · 7′ · best in Jul, Aug, Sep. Reachable from mid-northern latitudes (UK, northern US, central Europe) and from the south.
Open clusters are the easiest targets in the sky. The stars are bright, so the aim is colour and tight stars rather than depth: short subs, no filter, and stop before the bright members saturate. The nominal time here gets you clean star colour; more integration only adds background stars.
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 M29 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
- M29 with the ZWO Seestar S50: 6 min from Bortle 6
- M29 with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 6 min from Bortle 6
- M29 with the ZWO Seestar S30: 6 min from Bortle 6
- M29 with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 6 min from Bortle 6
- M29 with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 8 min from Bortle 6
- M29 with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 8 min from Bortle 6
- M29 with the DwarfLab Draco: 15 min from Bortle 6
- M29 with the DwarfLab DWARF II: 18 min from Bortle 6
- M29 with the Vaonis Vespera II: 6 min from Bortle 6
- M29 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 12 min from Bortle 6
- M29 with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 5 min from Bortle 6
- M29 with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 4 min from Bortle 6
- M29 with the Unistellar Odyssey: 19 min from Bortle 6
- M29 with the Celestron Origin: 5 min from Bortle 6
- M29 with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 5 min from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the M29 · All targets for the Vespera Pro 2