How long should I image the M5 with the Vespera 3 from a Bortle 6 sky?

About 10 min of total integration for a solid image, or 39 min for a showpiece. A quick look takes 2 min.

How many subs is that on the Vespera 3?

At the default 10 s sub length, 59 subs for a solid image from Bortle 6 and 30 from Bortle 3.

Does a dual-band filter help on the M5?

No. The M5 is a broadband target and a dual-band filter blocks most of its light. Shoot without a filter.

How long to image the M5 with the Vaonis Vespera 3

From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the Vaonis Vespera 3 needs about 10 min (59 subs of 10 s) for a solid image of the M5. 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 26% of the frame’s short side.

M5 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 min10 subs	5 min30 subs	17 min102 subs
Bortle 2Typical dark site	2 min10 subs	5 min30 subs	18 min106 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 min162 subs
Bortle 6Bright suburban	2 min15 subs	10 min59 subs	39 min234 subs
Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition	4 min24 subs	15 min93 subs	1 h 02 min371 subs
Bortle 8City	6 min37 subs	24 min146 subs	1 h 37 min584 subs
Bortle 9Inner city	11 min65 subs	43 min260 subs	2 h 53 min1,039 subs

Adjust in the calculator

Power and kit for this session

Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 13 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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red LED head torchRed light keeps your night vision; white light costs you twenty minutes of dark adaptation every time.
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How it frames

The M5 is 23′ across. The Vespera 3 frames 2.60° × 1.46° at 2.44″ per pixel, so it fills 26% 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	5 min30 subs	7 min41 subs	15 min93 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 M5

A bright, slightly elliptical globular in Serpens that rivals M13 and resolves into stars quickly.

NGC 5904 · Globular cluster in Serpens · magnitude 5.7 · 23′ · best in Apr, May, Jun. 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 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 M5 with your Vespera 3? Did the solid figure match?Anonymous, one tap. It is how the model gets calibrated.

Have an image of the M5 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 M5 · All targets for the Vespera 3