How long should I image the Orion Nebula with the Seestar S30 from a Bortle 6 sky?

About 14 min of total integration for a solid image, or 56 min for a showpiece. A quick look takes 3 min.

How many subs is that on the Seestar S30?

At the default 10 s sub length, 84 subs for a solid image from Bortle 6 and 67 from Bortle 3.

Does a dual-band filter help on the Orion Nebula?

Yes. It is an emission-line object; from Bortle 6 the filter cuts the solid-image time from 18 min to 14 min.

How long to image the Orion Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30

From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the ZWO Seestar S30 needs about 14 min (84 subs of 10 s with the built-in dual-band (LP filter) filter) for a solid image of the Orion Nebula. A quick look takes 3 min; a showpiece 56 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 11 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it is just over the frame at 1.2×.

Orion Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30: 10 s subs with the built-in dual-band (LP filter) filter.
Sky	Quick lookTarget obvious, still noisy	SolidClean enough to share	ShowpieceSmooth faint detail, print-worthy
Bortle 1Excellent dark site	3 min17 subs	11 min66 subs	44 min262 subs
Bortle 2Typical dark site	3 min17 subs	11 min66 subs	44 min264 subs
Bortle 3Rural	3 min17 subs	11 min67 subs	45 min268 subs
Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition	3 min18 subs	12 min70 subs	46 min279 subs
Bortle 5Suburban	3 min19 subs	12 min74 subs	49 min295 subs
Bortle 6Bright suburban	3 min21 subs	14 min84 subs	56 min336 subs
Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition	4 min26 subs	17 min104 subs	1 h 09 min414 subs
Bortle 8City	6 min34 subs	22 min134 subs	1 h 29 min535 subs
Bortle 9Inner city	8 min50 subs	33 min199 subs	2 h 12 min793 subs

Adjust in the calculator

Power and kit for this session

Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 18 min of run time. The Seestar S30’s battery (rated about 6 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, and 30% off the battery for a December night.)

USB-C power bank 10000mAh 5V 3A6,000 mAh inside; a 10,000 mAh 5 V 3 A bank roughly doubles a session.
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Seestar S30 dew shieldHeater is built in; a cheap shield reduces dew and stray light.
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red LED head torchRed light keeps your night vision; white light costs you twenty minutes of dark adaptation every time.
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hand warmers long lastingAir-activated packs give hours of heat for the person; winter nights are long and you spend most of them standing still.
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How it frames

The Orion Nebula is 85′ × 60′ across. The Seestar S30 frames 2.13° × 1.20° at 3.99″ per pixel, so it is just over the frame at 1.2×. Point at the part you want; the edges will fall outside the frame.

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	11 min67 subs	12 min74 subs	17 min104 subs
20 s	10 min30 subs	10 min30 subs	15 min45 subs
30 s	15 min30 subs	15 min30 subs	15 min30 subs
60 s	30 min30 subs	30 min30 subs	30 min30 subs

With and without the dual-band filter

Solid quality, default sub length.
Filter	Bortle 3	Bortle 5	Bortle 7
UV/IR-cut (no light-pollution filter)	9 min52 subs	12 min74 subs	28 min171 subs
dual-band (LP filter)	11 min67 subs	12 min74 subs	17 min104 subs

About the Orion Nebula

The brightest nebula in the northern sky and the one every smart scope gets pointed at first. The core saturates in a minute; the wings and the Running Man need real time. Mix short and long stacks.

M42, NGC 1976 · Emission nebula in Orion · magnitude 4.0 · 85′ × 60′ · best in Nov, Dec, Jan. Reachable from mid-northern latitudes (UK, northern US, central Europe) and from the south.

Emission nebulae glow in a few narrow lines, mostly hydrogen-alpha (deep red) and doubly ionised oxygen (teal). A dual-band filter passes those lines and blocks most skyglow, which is why it cuts the time needed from a suburban sky so dramatically. Use it. From a genuinely dark site the gain is smaller because there is less skyglow to block, and read noise becomes the limit, which is where longer subs (EQ mode, or Expert Mode on a Vespera) earn their keep.

Stars lose colour through a dual-band filter; a short broadband stack blended in fixes that if you care.

About the ZWO Seestar S30

Wider and lighter than the S50 with the same 2.9 µm pixels, so its per-pixel speed on extended targets is close despite the smaller aperture. Ideal for big nebulae.

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.

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.

Where to buy the Seestar S30ZWO store Direct Amazon UK Amazon USThe ZWO 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 Orion Nebula with your Seestar S30? Did the solid figure match?Anonymous, one tap. It is how the model gets calibrated.

Have an image of the Orion Nebula from a Seestar S30? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.

Same target, other telescopes

All telescopes for the Orion Nebula · All targets for the Seestar S30