How long to image the M60 with the DwarfLab DWARF II
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the DwarfLab DWARF II needs about 3 h 19 min (798 subs of 15 s) for a solid image of the M60. A quick look takes 50 min; a showpiece 13 h. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 1 h 46 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it fills 7% 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 | 24 min97 subs | 1 h 37 min388 subs | 6 h 28 min1,551 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 25 min101 subs | 1 h 40 min401 subs | 6 h 40 min1,601 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 26 min106 subs | 1 h 46 min424 subs | 7 h 04 min1,696 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 30 min121 subs | 2 h482 subs | 8 h 02 min1,927 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 36 min144 subs | 2 h 23 min574 subs | 9 h 33 min2,294 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 50 min200 subs | 3 h 19 min798 subs | 13 h3,192 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 1 h 17 min307 subs | 5 h 06 min1,226 subs | 20 h4,903 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 1 h 58 min473 subs | 7 h 52 min1,890 subs | 31 h7,560 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 3 h 27 min827 subs | 14 h3,307 subs | 55 h13,227 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 4 h 19 min of run time. The DWARF II’s battery is rated at about 3 h, so the session needs an external 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 M60 is 7′ × 6′ across. The DWARF II frames 3.19° × 1.79° at 2.99″ per pixel, so it fills 7% of the frame’s short side.
About the M60
A giant elliptical with the spiral NGC 4647 touching it. A neat pair in one frame.
NGC 4649 · Galaxy in Virgo · magnitude 8.8 · 7′ × 6′ · best in Mar, Apr, May. Reachable from mid-northern latitudes (UK, northern US, central Europe) and from the south.
Galaxies are broadband targets: their light is mostly starlight spread across the spectrum, so a dual-band filter throws most of it away and makes things slower, not faster. Shoot without a filter (or with a plain UV/IR cut) and rely on total time and a dark sky. The core of a galaxy is usually many times brighter than its outer disc, so a short stack shows the nucleus long before the arms; the figures here are for the arms and disc, not the core.
Field rotation in Alt-Az mode crops the edges of the stack over a long session, so on a big galaxy re-centre now and then or use EQ mode where your scope supports it.
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 M60 from a DWARF II? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.
Same target, other telescopes
- M60 with the ZWO Seestar S50: 59 min from Bortle 6
- M60 with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 1 h 05 min from Bortle 6
- M60 with the ZWO Seestar S30: 1 h 02 min from Bortle 6
- M60 with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 1 h 08 min from Bortle 6
- M60 with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 1 h 26 min from Bortle 6
- M60 with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 59 min from Bortle 6
- M60 with the DwarfLab Draco: 49 min from Bortle 6
- M60 with the Vaonis Vespera II: 59 min from Bortle 6
- M60 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 2 h 12 min from Bortle 6
- M60 with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 56 min from Bortle 6
- M60 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 2 h 06 min from Bortle 6
- M60 with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 52 min from Bortle 6
- M60 with the Unistellar Odyssey: 4 h from Bortle 6
- M60 with the Celestron Origin: 16 min from Bortle 6
- M60 with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 22 min from Bortle 6