How long to image the M66 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2 needs about 1 h 27 min (523 subs of 10 s) for a solid image of the M66. A quick look takes 22 min; a showpiece 5 h 48 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 40 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 9% 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 | 9 min54 subs | 36 min216 subs | 2 h 23 min861 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 9 min57 subs | 37 min225 subs | 2 h 30 min899 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 10 min61 subs | 40 min243 subs | 2 h 42 min970 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 12 min72 subs | 48 min286 subs | 3 h 10 min1,143 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 15 min89 subs | 59 min355 subs | 3 h 56 min1,418 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 22 min131 subs | 1 h 27 min523 subs | 5 h 48 min2,090 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 35 min211 subs | 2 h 20 min843 subs | 9 h 22 min3,372 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 56 min336 subs | 3 h 43 min1,341 subs | 15 h5,363 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 1 h 40 min601 subs | 6 h 40 min2,402 subs | 27 h9,608 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 1 h 53 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.
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 Vespera Pro 2 →
How it frames
The M66 is 9′ × 4′ across. The Vespera Pro 2 frames 1.65° × 1.65° at 1.68″ per pixel, so it fills 9% of the frame’s short side.
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 | 40 min243 subs | 59 min355 subs | 2 h 20 min843 subs |
| 20 s | 35 min105 subs | 53 min161 subs | 2 h 15 min405 subs |
| 30 s | 33 min66 subs | 52 min104 subs | 2 h 13 min266 subs |
About the M66
The brightest of the Leo Triplet, with asymmetric arms from a past encounter.
NGC 3627 · Galaxy in Leo · magnitude 8.9 · 9′ × 4′ · best in Feb, Mar, Apr. 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 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 M66 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
- M66 with the ZWO Seestar S50: 41 min from Bortle 6
- M66 with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 45 min from Bortle 6
- M66 with the ZWO Seestar S30: 43 min from Bortle 6
- M66 with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 47 min from Bortle 6
- M66 with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 1 h from Bortle 6
- M66 with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 41 min from Bortle 6
- M66 with the DwarfLab Draco: 34 min from Bortle 6
- M66 with the DwarfLab DWARF II: 2 h 18 min from Bortle 6
- M66 with the Vaonis Vespera II: 41 min from Bortle 6
- M66 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 1 h 31 min from Bortle 6
- M66 with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 39 min from Bortle 6
- M66 with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 36 min from Bortle 6
- M66 with the Unistellar Odyssey: 2 h 46 min from Bortle 6
- M66 with the Celestron Origin: 11 min from Bortle 6
- M66 with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 15 min from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the M66 · All targets for the Vespera Pro 2