How long to image the M79 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2 needs about 34 min (203 subs of 10 s) for a solid image of the M79. A quick look takes 8 min; a showpiece 2 h 15 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 17 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 | 4 min24 subs | 16 min95 subs | 1 h 03 min379 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 4 min25 subs | 16 min98 subs | 1 h 05 min392 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 4 min27 subs | 17 min105 subs | 1 h 09 min417 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 5 min30 subs | 20 min120 subs | 1 h 20 min478 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 6 min36 subs | 24 min144 subs | 1 h 36 min574 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 8 min51 subs | 34 min203 subs | 2 h 15 min809 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 13 min79 subs | 52 min315 subs | 3 h 30 min1,258 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 20 min123 subs | 1 h 21 min489 subs | 5 h 26 min1,956 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 36 min216 subs | 2 h 23 min861 subs | 9 h 34 min3,442 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 44 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, and 30% off the battery for a December night.)
- 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.
- 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.
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Everything that fits the Vespera Pro 2 →
How it frames
The M79 is 9′ 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 | 17 min105 subs | 24 min144 subs | 52 min315 subs |
| 20 s | 15 min47 subs | 22 min66 subs | 50 min152 subs |
| 30 s | 15 min30 subs | 21 min43 subs | 50 min100 subs |
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 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 M79 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
- 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 DwarfLab DWARF II: 53 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 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
All telescopes for the M79 · All targets for the Vespera Pro 2