How long to image the Pleiades with the DwarfLab DWARF II
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the DwarfLab DWARF II needs about 9 h 16 min (2,225 subs of 15 s) for a solid image of the Pleiades. A quick look takes 2 h 19 min; a showpiece 37 h. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 4 h 34 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 1.0×.
| Sky | Quick lookTarget obvious, still noisy | SolidClean enough to share | ShowpieceSmooth faint detail, print-worthy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bortle 1Excellent dark site | 1 h 02 min247 subs | 4 h 07 min987 subs | 16 h3,947 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 1 h 04 min257 subs | 4 h 16 min1,025 subs | 17 h4,099 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 1 h 09 min275 subs | 4 h 34 min1,097 subs | 18 h4,387 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 1 h 19 min318 subs | 5 h 18 min1,271 subs | 21 h5,084 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 1 h 37 min387 subs | 6 h 27 min1,548 subs | 26 h6,189 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 2 h 19 min557 subs | 9 h 16 min2,225 subs | 37 h8,899 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 3 h 40 min879 subs | 15 h3,516 subs | 59 h14,064 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 5 h 45 min1,381 subs | 23 h5,521 subs | 92 h22,084 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 10 h2,450 subs | 41 h9,797 subs | 160+ h39,187 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 12 h of run time. That is more than one night: over 2 nights, about 6 h 02 min each. The DWARF II’s battery is rated at about 3 h, less near freezing, so each night needs an external power bank. (Bortle 6, solid image; we allow 30% over the integration time, and 30% off the battery for a November night.)
- USB-C PD power bank 10000mAh 18W18 W PD input; runs while charging.
- 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 DWARF II →
How it frames
The Pleiades is 110′ across. The DWARF II frames 3.19° × 1.79° at 2.99″ per pixel, so it is just over the frame at 1.0×. Point at the part you want; the edges will fall outside the frame.
About the Pleiades
The stars take seconds. The blue reflection nebulosity around them is faint and needs hours from any sky, and no filter helps because it is starlight, not emission.
M45, Seven Sisters · Reflection nebula in Taurus · magnitude 1.6 · 110′ · best in Oct, Nov, Dec. Reachable from mid-northern latitudes (UK, northern US, central Europe) and from the south.
Reflection nebulae are starlight scattered by dust, so they are broadband and blue. A dual-band filter removes almost all of it; do not use one. These are among the faintest structures a smart scope can attempt and the figures run long. A dark sky matters more here than for any other type, and the Moon must be down.
About the DwarfLab DWARF II
The original pocket scope. 24 mm aperture and tiny 1.45 µm pixels mean it is slow per pixel, so bin or downsample and be patient.
15 s is the hard maximum in any mode; DwarfLab recommends EQ mode at 15 s. Two built-in filters, VIS and Astro (IR-pass); no dual-band. The optional UHC filter is no longer sold.
The DWARF II uses fixed 15 s subs, so the only levers you have are the sky you shoot from, the filter, and total time.
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 Pleiades from a DWARF II? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.
Same target, other telescopes
- Pleiades with the ZWO Seestar S50: 2 h 42 min from Bortle 6
- Pleiades with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 2 h 57 min from Bortle 6
- Pleiades with the ZWO Seestar S30: 2 h 50 min from Bortle 6
- Pleiades with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 3 h 08 min from Bortle 6
- Pleiades with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 3 h 55 min from Bortle 6
- Pleiades with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 2 h 41 min from Bortle 6
- Pleiades with the DwarfLab Draco: 2 h 13 min from Bortle 6
- Pleiades with the Vaonis Vespera II: 2 h 42 min from Bortle 6
- Pleiades with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 6 h 03 min from Bortle 6
- Pleiades with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 2 h 35 min from Bortle 6
- Pleiades with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 5 h 46 min from Bortle 6
- Pleiades with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 2 h 28 min from Bortle 6
- Pleiades with the Unistellar Odyssey: 11 h from Bortle 6
- Pleiades with the Celestron Origin: 43 min from Bortle 6
- Pleiades with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 59 min from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the Pleiades · All targets for the DWARF II