How long to image the M54 with the DwarfLab DWARF II
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the DwarfLab DWARF II needs about 1 h 36 min (384 subs of 15 s) for a solid image of the M54. A quick look takes 24 min; a showpiece 6 h 24 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 52 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it fills 11% 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 | 12 min48 subs | 47 min190 subs | 3 h 09 min757 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 12 min49 subs | 49 min195 subs | 3 h 15 min780 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 13 min52 subs | 52 min207 subs | 3 h 26 min826 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 15 min59 subs | 58 min234 subs | 3 h 54 min935 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 17 min70 subs | 1 h 09 min278 subs | 4 h 37 min1,109 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 24 min96 subs | 1 h 36 min384 subs | 6 h 24 min1,535 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 37 min147 subs | 2 h 27 min587 subs | 9 h 47 min2,347 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 56 min226 subs | 3 h 45 min902 subs | 15 h3,607 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 1 h 38 min394 subs | 6 h 33 min1,574 subs | 26 h6,296 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 2 h 05 min of run time. The DWARF II’s battery (rated about 3 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 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.
Affiliate links: the retailer pays us a small commission and you pay the same price. These are search links to the named product, not endorsements of a particular listing; check the listing matches your model.
Everything that fits the DWARF II →
How it frames
The M54 is 12′ across. The DWARF II frames 3.19° × 1.79° at 2.99″ per pixel, so it fills 11% of the frame’s short side.
About the M54
A globular that actually belongs to the Sagittarius Dwarf galaxy being eaten by the Milky Way. Low from the north.
NGC 6715 · Globular cluster in Sagittarius · magnitude 7.6 · 12′ · best in Jun, Jul, Aug. 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 M54 from a DWARF II? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.
Same target, other telescopes
- M54 with the ZWO Seestar S50: 28 min from Bortle 6
- M54 with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 31 min from Bortle 6
- M54 with the ZWO Seestar S30: 30 min from Bortle 6
- M54 with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 33 min from Bortle 6
- M54 with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 42 min from Bortle 6
- M54 with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 28 min from Bortle 6
- M54 with the DwarfLab Draco: 23 min from Bortle 6
- M54 with the Vaonis Vespera II: 28 min from Bortle 6
- M54 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 1 h 03 min from Bortle 6
- M54 with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 27 min from Bortle 6
- M54 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 1 h 01 min from Bortle 6
- M54 with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 25 min from Bortle 6
- M54 with the Unistellar Odyssey: 1 h 55 min from Bortle 6
- M54 with the Celestron Origin: 8 min from Bortle 6
- M54 with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 10 min from Bortle 6