How long to image the M79 with the DwarfLab DWARF II
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the DwarfLab DWARF II needs about 53 min (212 subs of 15 s) for a solid image of the M79. A quick look takes 13 min; a showpiece 3 h 31 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 30 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it fills 8% 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 | 7 min29 subs | 28 min113 subs | 1 h 52 min450 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 7 min29 subs | 29 min116 subs | 1 h 55 min462 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 8 min31 subs | 30 min122 subs | 2 h 01 min485 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 8 min34 subs | 34 min136 subs | 2 h 15 min541 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 10 min40 subs | 39 min158 subs | 2 h 37 min629 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 13 min53 subs | 53 min212 subs | 3 h 31 min845 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 20 min79 subs | 1 h 19 min315 subs | 5 h 14 min1,257 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 30 min119 subs | 1 h 58 min474 subs | 7 h 54 min1,896 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 51 min204 subs | 3 h 24 min815 subs | 14 h3,260 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 1 h 09 min of run time. The DWARF II’s battery (rated about 3 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, and 30% off the battery for a December night.)
- 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.
- hand warmers long lastingAir-activated packs give hours of heat for the person; winter nights are long and you spend most of them standing still.
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 DWARF II →
How it frames
The M79 is 9′ across. The DWARF II frames 3.19° × 1.79° at 2.99″ per pixel, so it fills 8% of the frame’s short side.
About the M79
A winter globular below Orion, unusual for the season. Low but compact.
NGC 1904 · Globular cluster in Lepus · magnitude 7.7 · 9′ · best in Nov, Dec, Jan. Reachable from mid-northern latitudes (UK, northern US, central Europe) and from the south.
Globular clusters are point sources packed tight, so they come quickly: the core resolves into stars within a handful of minutes on any smart scope. More time deepens the halo and pulls in the faint outer members. Use short subs so the core does not saturate into a white blob, and no filter.
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 M79 from a DWARF II? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.
Same target, other telescopes
- M79 with the ZWO Seestar S50: 16 min from Bortle 6
- M79 with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 17 min from Bortle 6
- M79 with the ZWO Seestar S30: 17 min from Bortle 6
- M79 with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 18 min from Bortle 6
- M79 with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 23 min from Bortle 6
- M79 with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 16 min from Bortle 6
- M79 with the DwarfLab Draco: 15 min from Bortle 6
- M79 with the Vaonis Vespera II: 16 min from Bortle 6
- M79 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 35 min from Bortle 6
- M79 with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 15 min from Bortle 6
- M79 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 34 min from Bortle 6
- M79 with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 14 min from Bortle 6
- M79 with the Unistellar Odyssey: 1 h 02 min from Bortle 6
- M79 with the Celestron Origin: 5 min from Bortle 6
- M79 with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 6 min from Bortle 6