How long to image the Ring Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2 needs about 16 min (99 subs of 10 s) for a solid image of the Ring Nebula. A quick look takes 4 min; a showpiece 1 h 06 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 10 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 is small in the frame, about 50 pixels across.
| Sky | Quick lookTarget obvious, still noisy | SolidClean enough to share | ShowpieceSmooth faint detail, print-worthy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bortle 1Excellent dark site | 2 min14 subs | 9 min55 subs | 36 min218 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 2 min14 subs | 9 min56 subs | 37 min223 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 2 min15 subs | 10 min59 subs | 39 min233 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 3 min17 subs | 11 min65 subs | 43 min258 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 3 min19 subs | 12 min75 subs | 49 min297 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 4 min25 subs | 16 min99 subs | 1 h 06 min394 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 6 min37 subs | 24 min145 subs | 1 h 36 min577 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 9 min54 subs | 36 min216 subs | 2 h 23 min861 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 15 min92 subs | 1 h 01 min367 subs | 4 h 05 min1,468 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 21 min of run time. The Vespera Pro 2’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 30WExternal bank extends the 11 h battery.
- 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 Vespera Pro 2 →
How it frames
The Ring Nebula is 1.4′ × 1′ across. The Vespera Pro 2 frames 1.65° × 1.65° at 1.68″ per pixel, so it is small in the frame, about 50 pixels across. It is worth doing, but the result is a crop rather than a full frame; a longer focal length would resolve more of it.
Longer subs
10 s subs by default; Expert Mode manual targets allow 1 to 30 s. Alt-azimuth only; CovalENS mosaic gives 3.2° × 3.2° at 50 MP. Time for a solid image by sub length:
| Sub length | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 s | 10 min59 subs | 12 min75 subs | 24 min145 subs |
| 20 s | 10 min30 subs | 12 min35 subs | 23 min70 subs |
| 30 s | 15 min30 subs | 15 min30 subs | 23 min46 subs |
With and without the dual-band filter
| Filter | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No filter | 10 min59 subs | 12 min75 subs | 24 min145 subs |
| dual-band (Dual Band filter), clip-on | 13 min80 subs | 14 min85 subs | 18 min106 subs |
The Vespera Pro 2 has no built-in dual-band filter. Optional clip-on Vaonis filters: dual-band, light-pollution (CLS) and solar. On an emission target like this it is the single biggest upgrade you can make.
About the Ring Nebula
A tiny, bright smoke ring. It is small in a smart scope but so bright per pixel that a few minutes show the ring; the faint outer halo is another matter.
M57, NGC 6720 · Planetary nebula in Lyra · magnitude 8.8 · 1.4′ × 1′ · best in Jun, Jul, Aug. Reachable from mid-northern latitudes (UK, northern US, central Europe) and from the south.
Planetary nebulae are small but intensely bright per pixel in OIII and H-alpha, so they respond very well to a dual-band filter and do not need much time for the main shell. The faint outer halos most of them have are a different proposition and need hours. Keep subs short if the central region saturates.
About the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2
The square-sensor 2026 Vespera with 2 µm pixels. Sharper than the Vespera 3 on small targets and correspondingly slower per pixel; the 12.5 MP square frame suits galaxies and planetaries.
10 s subs by default; Expert Mode manual targets allow 1 to 30 s. Alt-azimuth only; CovalENS mosaic gives 3.2° × 3.2° at 50 MP. Optional clip-on Vaonis filters: dual-band, light-pollution (CLS) and solar.
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.
Have an image of the Ring Nebula from a Vespera Pro 2? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.
Same target, other telescopes
- Ring Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50: 7 min from Bortle 6
- Ring Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 8 min from Bortle 6
- Ring Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30: 7 min from Bortle 6
- Ring Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 8 min from Bortle 6
- Ring Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 10 min from Bortle 6
- Ring Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 8 min from Bortle 6
- Ring Nebula with the DwarfLab Draco: 15 min from Bortle 6
- Ring Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF II: 25 min from Bortle 6
- Ring Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera II: 8 min from Bortle 6
- Ring Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 17 min from Bortle 6
- Ring Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 7 min from Bortle 6
- Ring Nebula with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 6 min from Bortle 6
- Ring Nebula with the Unistellar Odyssey: 28 min from Bortle 6
- Ring Nebula with the Celestron Origin: 5 min from Bortle 6
- Ring Nebula with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 5 min from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the Ring Nebula · All targets for the Vespera Pro 2