How long to image the M61 with the DwarfLab DWARF 3
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the DwarfLab DWARF 3 needs about 4 h 32 min (1,089 subs of 15 s) for a solid image of the M61. A quick look takes 1 h 08 min; a showpiece 18 h. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 1 h 35 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 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 | 20 min79 subs | 1 h 18 min313 subs | 5 h 13 min1,252 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 21 min85 subs | 1 h 24 min337 subs | 5 h 37 min1,347 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 24 min96 subs | 1 h 35 min382 subs | 6 h 22 min1,527 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 31 min123 subs | 2 h 03 min491 subs | 8 h 11 min1,964 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 42 min167 subs | 2 h 46 min665 subs | 11 h2,657 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 1 h 08 min273 subs | 4 h 32 min1,089 subs | 18 h4,356 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 1 h 59 min475 subs | 7 h 55 min1,899 subs | 32 h7,593 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 3 h 17 min789 subs | 13 h3,155 subs | 53 h12,620 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 6 h 05 min1,459 subs | 24 h5,835 subs | 97 h23,340 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 5 h 54 min of run time. The DWARF 3’s battery is rated at about 5 h 30 min, so the session needs an external power bank. (Bortle 6, solid image; we allow 30% over the integration time.)
- USB-C PD power bank 20000mAh 18W18 W PD input and it runs while charging; needs a C-to-C cable for PD.
- 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 3 →
How it frames
The M61 is 6′ × 5.5′ across. The DWARF 3 frames 2.93° × 1.65° at 2.75″ per pixel, so it fills 6% of the frame’s short side.
Longer subs
Auto mode caps subs at 15 s; 30 s and longer need EQ mode, and 60 s is the ceiling on the tele camera. Time for a solid image by sub length:
| Sub length | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 s | 1 h 35 min382 subs | 2 h 46 min665 subs | 7 h 55 min1,899 subs |
| 30 s | 1 h 29 min179 subs | 2 h 40 min320 subs | 7 h 48 min937 subs |
| 60 s | 1 h 26 min87 subs | 2 h 37 min157 subs | 7 h 45 min466 subs |
Leave the dual-band filter out for the M61. It is a galaxy, and it shines right across the spectrum. A dual-band filter keeps two emission lines and throws the rest away, so most of the light you came for is being stopped along with the sky. From a Bortle 6 sky it would be roughly 10 times slower.
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 3
Small pixels on a 35 mm f/4.3 lens give a sharper image than its aperture suggests, and EQ mode with 60 s subs makes it the read-noise winner in dark skies.
Auto mode caps subs at 15 s; 30 s and longer need EQ mode, and 60 s is the ceiling on the tele camera. Three built-in filters: VIS, Astro (430 to 690 nm) and dual-band Hα 656 nm / OIII 501 nm.
Longer subs matter most under dark skies, where read noise rather than skyglow sets the floor. From a city the difference between 15 s and 60 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 M61 from a DWARF 3? 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 mini: 3 h 07 min from Bortle 6
- M61 with the DwarfLab Draco: 2 h 34 min from Bortle 6
- M61 with the DwarfLab DWARF II: 11 h 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