How long to image the M74 with the DwarfLab DWARF II
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the DwarfLab DWARF II needs about 19 h (4,552 subs of 15 s) for a solid image of the M74. A quick look takes 4 h 44 min; a showpiece 76 h. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 9 h 16 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. 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 | 2 h 05 min500 subs | 8 h 20 min1,999 subs | 33 h7,995 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 2 h 10 min520 subs | 8 h 39 min2,078 subs | 35 h8,309 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 2 h 19 min557 subs | 9 h 16 min2,226 subs | 37 h8,902 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 2 h 42 min647 subs | 11 h2,585 subs | 43 h10,339 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 3 h 17 min789 subs | 13 h3,155 subs | 53 h12,618 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 4 h 44 min1,138 subs | 19 h4,552 subs | 76 h18,208 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 7 h 31 min1,804 subs | 30 h7,215 subs | 120+ h28,859 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 12 h2,838 subs | 47 h11,349 subs | 190+ h45,396 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 21 h5,042 subs | 84 h20,167 subs | 340+ h80,665 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 25 h of run time. That is more than one night: over 4 nights, about 6 h 10 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 M74 is 10′ × 9.5′ across. The DWARF II frames 3.19° × 1.79° at 2.99″ per pixel, so it fills 9% of the frame’s short side.
About the M74
A perfect face-on spiral with very low surface brightness, hence the nickname. One of the hardest Messier objects for small scopes.
NGC 628, Phantom Galaxy · Galaxy in Pisces · magnitude 9.4 · 10′ × 9.5′ · best in Sep, Oct, Nov. 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 M74 from a DWARF II? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.
Same target, other telescopes
- M74 with the ZWO Seestar S50: 5 h 30 min from Bortle 6
- M74 with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 6 h 02 min from Bortle 6
- M74 with the ZWO Seestar S30: 5 h 48 min from Bortle 6
- M74 with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 6 h 23 min from Bortle 6
- M74 with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 7 h 59 min from Bortle 6
- M74 with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 5 h 29 min from Bortle 6
- M74 with the DwarfLab Draco: 4 h 31 min from Bortle 6
- M74 with the Vaonis Vespera II: 5 h 30 min from Bortle 6
- M74 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 12 h from Bortle 6
- M74 with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 5 h 16 min from Bortle 6
- M74 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 12 h from Bortle 6
- M74 with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 5 h 03 min from Bortle 6
- M74 with the Unistellar Odyssey: 23 h from Bortle 6
- M74 with the Celestron Origin: 1 h 27 min from Bortle 6
- M74 with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 1 h 59 min from Bortle 6