How long should I image the M32 with the Vespera 3 from a Bortle 6 sky?

About 20 min of total integration for a solid image, or 1 h 18 min for a showpiece. A quick look takes 5 min.

How many subs is that on the Vespera 3?

At the default 10 s sub length, 118 subs for a solid image from Bortle 6 and 57 from Bortle 3.

Does a dual-band filter help on the M32?

No. The M32 is a broadband target and a dual-band filter blocks most of its light. Shoot without a filter.

How long to image the M32 with the Vaonis Vespera 3

From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the Vaonis Vespera 3 needs about 20 min (118 subs of 10 s) for a solid image of the M32. A quick look takes 5 min; a showpiece 1 h 18 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 9 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 9% of the frame’s short side.

M32 with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 10 s subs.
Sky	Quick lookTarget obvious, still noisy	SolidClean enough to share	ShowpieceSmooth faint detail, print-worthy
Bortle 1Excellent dark site	2 min13 subs	8 min51 subs	34 min203 subs
Bortle 2Typical dark site	2 min14 subs	9 min53 subs	35 min211 subs
Bortle 3Rural	2 min15 subs	9 min57 subs	38 min226 subs
Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition	3 min17 subs	11 min66 subs	44 min264 subs
Bortle 5Suburban	3 min21 subs	13 min81 subs	54 min324 subs
Bortle 6Bright suburban	5 min30 subs	20 min118 subs	1 h 18 min470 subs
Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition	8 min47 subs	31 min188 subs	2 h 05 min750 subs
Bortle 8City	12 min74 subs	49 min296 subs	3 h 17 min1,184 subs
Bortle 9Inner city	22 min132 subs	1 h 28 min528 subs	5 h 51 min2,109 subs

Adjust in the calculator

Power and kit for this session

Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 25 min of run time. The Vespera 3’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 30WVaonis says an external bank extends sessions; 30 W PD as for the II and Pro.
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How it frames

The M32 is 8′ × 6′ across. The Vespera 3 frames 2.60° × 1.46° at 2.44″ per pixel, so it fills 9% 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 widens the field to 4.3° × 2.4°. Time for a solid image by sub length:

Sub length	Bortle 3	Bortle 5	Bortle 7
10 s	9 min57 subs	13 min81 subs	31 min188 subs
20 s	10 min30 subs	13 min38 subs	30 min91 subs
30 s	15 min30 subs	15 min30 subs	30 min61 subs

About the M32

The compact elliptical companion of Andromeda, sitting on its disc. Appears in every M31 frame.

NGC 221 · Galaxy in Andromeda · magnitude 8.1 · 8′ × 6′ · best in Sep, Oct, Nov. Reachable from mid-northern latitudes (UK, northern US, central Europe) and from the south.

Galaxies are broadband targets: their light is mostly starlight spread across the spectrum, so a dual-band filter throws most of it away and makes things slower, not faster. Shoot without a filter (or with a plain UV/IR cut) and rely on total time and a dark sky. The core of a galaxy is usually many times brighter than its outer disc, so a short stack shows the nucleus long before the arms; the figures here are for the arms and disc, not the core.

Field rotation in Alt-Az mode crops the edges of the stack over a long session, so on a big galaxy re-centre now and then or use EQ mode where your scope supports it.

About the Vaonis Vespera 3

The 2026 Vespera: same 50 mm quadruplet class as the II on an 8 MP IMX585, with a 24 MP mosaic mode and 11 hours of battery. Per pixel it behaves like a Seestar S50 Pro without the built-in dual-band filter.

10 s subs by default; Expert Mode manual targets allow 1 to 30 s. Alt-azimuth only; CovalENS mosaic widens the field to 4.3° × 2.4°. Optional clip-on Vaonis filters: dual-band, light-pollution (CLS) and solar. The new optical baffle is not a substitute for a CLS filter.

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.

Where to buy the Vespera 3Vaonis store Direct Amazon UK Amazon USThe Vaonis store link is a plain link; the others are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, at no cost to you.

Imaged the M32 with your Vespera 3? Did the solid figure match?Anonymous, one tap. It is how the model gets calibrated.

Have an image of the M32 from a Vespera 3? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.

Same target, other telescopes

All telescopes for the M32 · All targets for the Vespera 3