How long to image the M53 with the DwarfLab DWARF II
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the DwarfLab DWARF II needs about 1 h 59 min (478 subs of 15 s) for a solid image of the M53. A quick look takes 30 min; a showpiece 7 h 58 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 1 h 03 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it fills 12% of the frame’s short side.
| Sky | Quick lookTarget obvious, still noisy | SolidClean enough to share | ShowpieceSmooth faint detail, print-worthy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bortle 1Excellent dark site | 14 min58 subs | 58 min231 subs | 3 h 50 min922 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 15 min60 subs | 1 h239 subs | 3 h 58 min953 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 16 min64 subs | 1 h 03 min253 subs | 4 h 12 min1,010 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 18 min72 subs | 1 h 12 min288 subs | 4 h 47 min1,149 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 21 min86 subs | 1 h 26 min343 subs | 5 h 42 min1,370 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 30 min120 subs | 1 h 59 min478 subs | 7 h 58 min1,912 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 46 min184 subs | 3 h 04 min736 subs | 12 h2,944 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 1 h 11 min285 subs | 4 h 44 min1,137 subs | 19 h4,547 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 2 h 04 min498 subs | 8 h 18 min1,992 subs | 33 h7,965 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 2 h 35 min of run time. The DWARF II’s battery is rated at about 3 h, which is cutting it fine; take a power bank. (Bortle 6, solid image; we allow 30% over the integration time.)
- 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.
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Everything that fits the DWARF II →
How it frames
The M53 is 13′ across. The DWARF II frames 3.19° × 1.79° at 2.99″ per pixel, so it fills 12% of the frame’s short side.
About the M53
A distant globular in Coma Berenices, one of the outer halo clusters. Modest but easy.
NGC 5024 · Globular cluster in Coma Berenices · magnitude 7.6 · 13′ · best in Mar, Apr, May. 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 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 M53 from a DWARF II? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.
Same target, other telescopes
- M53 with the ZWO Seestar S50: 35 min from Bortle 6
- M53 with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 39 min from Bortle 6
- M53 with the ZWO Seestar S30: 37 min from Bortle 6
- M53 with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 41 min from Bortle 6
- M53 with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 52 min from Bortle 6
- M53 with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 35 min from Bortle 6
- M53 with the DwarfLab Draco: 29 min from Bortle 6
- M53 with the Vaonis Vespera II: 35 min from Bortle 6
- M53 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 1 h 19 min from Bortle 6
- M53 with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 34 min from Bortle 6
- M53 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 1 h 15 min from Bortle 6
- M53 with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 31 min from Bortle 6
- M53 with the Unistellar Odyssey: 2 h 24 min from Bortle 6
- M53 with the Celestron Origin: 9 min from Bortle 6
- M53 with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 13 min from Bortle 6