How long to image the M61 with the DwarfLab DWARF II
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the DwarfLab DWARF II needs about 11 h (2,563 subs of 15 s) for a solid image of the M61. A quick look takes 2 h 40 min; a showpiece 43 h. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 5 h 23 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it fills 6% 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 | 1 h 13 min292 subs | 4 h 52 min1,168 subs | 19 h4,670 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 1 h 16 min303 subs | 5 h 03 min1,211 subs | 20 h4,841 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 1 h 21 min323 subs | 5 h 23 min1,292 subs | 22 h5,166 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 1 h 33 min372 subs | 6 h 12 min1,488 subs | 25 h5,951 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 1 h 52 min450 subs | 7 h 30 min1,800 subs | 30 h7,197 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 2 h 40 min641 subs | 11 h2,563 subs | 43 h10,252 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 4 h 11 min1,005 subs | 17 h4,019 subs | 67 h16,074 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 6 h 32 min1,570 subs | 26 h6,279 subs | 100+ h25,113 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 12 h2,775 subs | 46 h11,098 subs | 180+ h44,391 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 14 h of run time. That is more than one night: over 2 nights, about 6 h 56 min each. The DWARF II’s battery is rated at about 3 h, so each night 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 M61 is 6′ × 5.5′ across. The DWARF II frames 3.19° × 1.79° at 2.99″ per pixel, so it fills 6% of the frame’s short side.
About the M61
A face-on barred spiral at the southern end of the Virgo cluster, with well-defined arms.
NGC 4303 · Galaxy in Virgo · magnitude 9.7 · 6′ × 5.5′ · 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 M61 from a DWARF II? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.
Same target, other telescopes
- M61 with the ZWO Seestar S50: 3 h 07 min from Bortle 6
- M61 with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 3 h 25 min from Bortle 6
- M61 with the ZWO Seestar S30: 3 h 17 min from Bortle 6
- M61 with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 3 h 37 min from Bortle 6
- M61 with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 4 h 32 min from Bortle 6
- M61 with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 3 h 07 min from Bortle 6
- M61 with the DwarfLab Draco: 2 h 34 min from Bortle 6
- M61 with the Vaonis Vespera II: 3 h 07 min from Bortle 6
- M61 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 6 h 59 min from Bortle 6
- M61 with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 2 h 59 min from Bortle 6
- M61 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 6 h 40 min from Bortle 6
- M61 with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 2 h 50 min from Bortle 6
- M61 with the Unistellar Odyssey: 13 h from Bortle 6
- M61 with the Celestron Origin: 50 min from Bortle 6
- M61 with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 1 h 08 min from Bortle 6