How long to image the M3 with the Vaonis Vespera II
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the Vaonis Vespera II needs about 10 min (58 subs of 10 s) for a solid image of the M3. A quick look takes 2 min; a showpiece 39 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 5 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 21% 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 min10 subs | 5 min30 subs | 17 min103 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 2 min10 subs | 5 min30 subs | 18 min107 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 2 min10 subs | 5 min30 subs | 19 min114 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 2 min10 subs | 5 min33 subs | 22 min132 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 2 min11 subs | 7 min41 subs | 27 min161 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 2 min15 subs | 10 min58 subs | 39 min232 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 4 min23 subs | 15 min92 subs | 1 h 01 min367 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 6 min36 subs | 24 min144 subs | 1 h 36 min576 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 11 min64 subs | 43 min256 subs | 2 h 50 min1,022 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 13 min of run time. The Vespera II’s battery (rated about 4 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 30WOnly four hours inside; Vaonis specifies a 30 W PD source. C-to-C cable not included.
- Vaonis Vespera hygrometer sensorTriggers the built-in demister automatically; the correct dew accessory for the II.
- 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 Vespera II →
How it frames
The M3 is 18′ across. The Vespera II frames 2.55° × 1.44° at 2.39″ per pixel, so it fills 21% 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, no EQ mode. Time for a solid image by sub length:
| Sub length | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 s | 5 min30 subs | 7 min41 subs | 15 min92 subs |
| 20 s | 10 min30 subs | 10 min30 subs | 15 min45 subs |
| 30 s | 15 min30 subs | 15 min30 subs | 15 min30 subs |
About the M3
One of the finest northern globulars, half a million stars in a tight ball. A spring showpiece that needs little time.
NGC 5272 · Globular cluster in Canes Venatici · magnitude 6.2 · 18′ · best in Mar, Apr, May. Reachable from mid-northern latitudes (UK, northern US, central Europe) and from the south.
Globular clusters are point sources packed tight, so they come quickly: the core resolves into stars within a handful of minutes on any smart scope. More time deepens the halo and pulls in the faint outer members. Use short subs so the core does not saturate into a white blob, and no filter.
About the Vaonis Vespera II
A 50 mm quadruplet on an 8 MP sensor with Vaonis’s mosaic mode for wide fields. Same optics class as the Seestar S50, four times the pixels.
10 s subs by default; Expert Mode manual targets allow 1 to 30 s. Alt-azimuth only, no EQ mode. Optional clip-on Vaonis filters: dual-band, light-pollution (CLS) and solar; the app detects which is fitted.
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 M3 from a Vespera II? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.
Same target, other telescopes
- M3 with the ZWO Seestar S50: 10 min from Bortle 6
- M3 with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 11 min from Bortle 6
- M3 with the ZWO Seestar S30: 10 min from Bortle 6
- M3 with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 11 min from Bortle 6
- M3 with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 14 min from Bortle 6
- M3 with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 10 min from Bortle 6
- M3 with the DwarfLab Draco: 15 min from Bortle 6
- M3 with the DwarfLab DWARF II: 32 min from Bortle 6
- M3 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 21 min from Bortle 6
- M3 with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 9 min from Bortle 6
- M3 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 20 min from Bortle 6
- M3 with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 8 min from Bortle 6
- M3 with the Unistellar Odyssey: 37 min from Bortle 6
- M3 with the Celestron Origin: 5 min from Bortle 6
- M3 with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 5 min from Bortle 6