How long to image the M74 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2 needs about 12 h (4,239 subs of 10 s) for a solid image of the M74. A quick look takes 2 h 57 min; a showpiece 47 h. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 4 h 44 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 10% 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 01 min364 subs | 4 h 03 min1,456 subs | 16 h5,821 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 1 h 04 min386 subs | 4 h 17 min1,541 subs | 17 h6,163 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 1 h 11 min426 subs | 4 h 44 min1,703 subs | 19 h6,810 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 1 h 27 min524 subs | 5 h 49 min2,095 subs | 23 h8,377 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 1 h 53 min679 subs | 7 h 33 min2,716 subs | 30 h10,861 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 2 h 57 min1,060 subs | 12 h4,239 subs | 47 h16,956 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 4 h 58 min1,786 subs | 20 h7,143 subs | 79 h28,570 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 8 h 05 min2,913 subs | 32 h11,651 subs | 130+ h46,602 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 15 h5,317 subs | 59 h21,265 subs | 240+ h85,060 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 15 h of run time. That is more than one night: over 3 nights, about 5 h 06 min each. The Vespera Pro 2’s battery (rated about 11 h) should cover each night; 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.
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How it frames
The M74 is 10′ × 9.5′ across. The Vespera Pro 2 frames 1.65° × 1.65° at 1.68″ per pixel, so it fills 10% 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 | 4 h 44 min1,703 subs | 7 h 33 min2,716 subs | 20 h7,143 subs |
| 20 s | 3 h 53 min698 subs | 6 h 41 min1,205 subs | 19 h3,418 subs |
| 30 s | 3 h 36 min432 subs | 6 h 24 min769 subs | 19 h2,245 subs |
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 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 M74 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
- 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 DwarfLab DWARF II: 19 h 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 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
All telescopes for the M74 · All targets for the Vespera Pro 2