How long to image the Little Dumbbell with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2 needs about 1 h 36 min (577 subs of 10 s) for a solid image of the Little Dumbbell. A quick look takes 24 min; a showpiece 6 h 24 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 45 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 3% 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 | 10 min61 subs | 41 min244 subs | 2 h 42 min973 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 11 min64 subs | 42 min254 subs | 2 h 49 min1,014 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 11 min69 subs | 45 min273 subs | 3 h 02 min1,092 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 13 min80 subs | 53 min320 subs | 3 h 33 min1,279 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 16 min99 subs | 1 h 06 min394 subs | 4 h 23 min1,576 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 24 min145 subs | 1 h 36 min577 subs | 6 h 24 min2,306 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 38 min231 subs | 2 h 34 min924 subs | 10 h3,695 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 1 h 01 min366 subs | 4 h 04 min1,463 subs | 16 h5,852 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 1 h 49 min654 subs | 7 h 16 min2,614 subs | 29 h10,453 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 2 h 05 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.
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How it frames
The Little Dumbbell is 2.7′ × 1.8′ across. The Vespera Pro 2 frames 1.65° × 1.65° at 1.68″ per pixel, so it fills 3% 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 | 45 min273 subs | 1 h 06 min394 subs | 2 h 34 min924 subs |
| 20 s | 39 min119 subs | 1 h179 subs | 2 h 28 min444 subs |
| 30 s | 37 min75 subs | 58 min116 subs | 2 h 26 min292 subs |
With and without the dual-band filter
| Filter | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No filter | 45 min273 subs | 1 h 06 min394 subs | 2 h 34 min924 subs |
| dual-band (Dual Band filter), clip-on | 1 h359 subs | 1 h 06 min396 subs | 1 h 33 min558 subs |
The Vespera Pro 2 has no built-in dual-band filter. Optional clip-on Vaonis filters: dual-band, light-pollution (CLS) and solar. On an emission target like this it is the single biggest upgrade you can make.
About the Little Dumbbell
A small, bright-per-pixel planetary in Perseus. Dual-band makes the two lobes and the faint wings much easier.
M76, NGC 650 · Planetary nebula in Perseus · magnitude 10.1 · 2.7′ × 1.8′ · best in Sep, Oct, Nov. Reachable from mid-northern latitudes (UK, northern US, central Europe) and from the south.
Planetary nebulae are small but intensely bright per pixel in OIII and H-alpha, so they respond very well to a dual-band filter and do not need much time for the main shell. The faint outer halos most of them have are a different proposition and need hours. Keep subs short if the central region saturates.
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 Little Dumbbell 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
- Little Dumbbell with the ZWO Seestar S50: 33 min from Bortle 6
- Little Dumbbell with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 36 min from Bortle 6
- Little Dumbbell with the ZWO Seestar S30: 37 min from Bortle 6
- Little Dumbbell with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 39 min from Bortle 6
- Little Dumbbell with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 43 min from Bortle 6
- Little Dumbbell with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 32 min from Bortle 6
- Little Dumbbell with the DwarfLab Draco: 26 min from Bortle 6
- Little Dumbbell with the DwarfLab DWARF II: 2 h 32 min from Bortle 6
- Little Dumbbell with the Vaonis Vespera II: 45 min from Bortle 6
- Little Dumbbell with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 1 h 41 min from Bortle 6
- Little Dumbbell with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 43 min from Bortle 6
- Little Dumbbell with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 40 min from Bortle 6
- Little Dumbbell with the Unistellar Odyssey: 3 h 01 min from Bortle 6
- Little Dumbbell with the Celestron Origin: 12 min from Bortle 6
- Little Dumbbell with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 17 min from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the Little Dumbbell · All targets for the Vespera Pro 2