How long to image the Orion Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the ZWO Seestar S50 needs about 12 min (75 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 50 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 10 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it is 2.0× wider than the frame.
| Sky | Quick lookTarget obvious, still noisy | SolidClean enough to share | ShowpieceSmooth faint detail, print-worthy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bortle 1Excellent dark site | 2 min14 subs | 9 min56 subs | 37 min224 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 2 min15 subs | 9 min57 subs | 38 min226 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 2 min15 subs | 10 min58 subs | 38 min231 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 3 min16 subs | 10 min61 subs | 40 min241 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 3 min17 subs | 11 min65 subs | 43 min258 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 3 min19 subs | 12 min75 subs | 50 min299 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 4 min24 subs | 16 min95 subs | 1 h 03 min377 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 5 min32 subs | 21 min125 subs | 1 h 23 min498 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 8 min48 subs | 31 min189 subs | 2 h 06 min755 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 16 min of run time. The Seestar S50’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 20000mAh 5V 3AThe S50 draws 5 V 3 A over USB-C and runs while charging; no PD needed.
- Seestar S50 dew shieldThe built-in heater copes with most nights; a shield helps in heavy dew and blocks stray light.
- red LED head torchRed light keeps your night vision; white light costs you twenty minutes of dark adaptation every time.
- 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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Everything that fits the Seestar S50 →
How it frames
The Orion Nebula is 85′ × 60′ across. The Seestar S50 frames 1.28° × 0.72° at 2.39″ per pixel, so it is 2.0× wider than the frame. A mosaic, or choosing the part you want and letting the rest go, is how it gets shot on this scope.
Longer subs
10, 20 and 30 s in Alt-Az; 60 s only in EQ mode (app 2.5 and later). Time for a solid image by sub length:
| Sub length | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 s | 10 min58 subs | 11 min65 subs | 16 min95 subs |
| 20 s | 10 min30 subs | 10 min30 subs | 14 min42 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
| Filter | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| UV/IR-cut (no light-pollution filter) | 8 min47 subs | 11 min69 subs | 28 min166 subs |
| dual-band (LP filter) | 10 min58 subs | 11 min65 subs | 16 min95 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 S50
The scope that made smart astrophotography mainstream. 50 mm triplet, 2 MP sensor, dual-band filter on a wheel. Alt-Az stacking at 10 s, EQ mode unlocks 60 s. Out of production since 2026 and replaced by the S50 Pro, but there are a great many in use.
10, 20 and 30 s in Alt-Az; 60 s only in EQ mode (app 2.5 and later). Built-in dual-band light-pollution filter, switchable in the app.
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 Orion Nebula from a Seestar S50? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.
Same target, other telescopes
- Orion Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 14 min from Bortle 6
- Orion Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30: 14 min from Bortle 6
- Orion Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 15 min from Bortle 6
- Orion Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 16 min from Bortle 6
- Orion Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 12 min from Bortle 6
- Orion Nebula with the DwarfLab Draco: 15 min from Bortle 6
- Orion Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF II: 57 min from Bortle 6
- Orion Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera II: 17 min from Bortle 6
- Orion Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 38 min from Bortle 6
- Orion Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 16 min from Bortle 6
- Orion Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 36 min from Bortle 6
- Orion Nebula with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 15 min from Bortle 6
- Orion Nebula with the Unistellar Odyssey: 1 h 08 min from Bortle 6
- Orion Nebula with the Celestron Origin: 5 min from Bortle 6
- Orion Nebula with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 6 min from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the Orion Nebula · All targets for the Seestar S50