How long to image the Lagoon Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF II
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the DwarfLab DWARF II needs about 1 h 35 min (382 subs of 15 s) for a solid image of the Lagoon Nebula. A quick look takes 24 min; a showpiece 6 h 21 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 51 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it fills 84% 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 | 12 min47 subs | 46 min185 subs | 3 h 05 min740 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 12 min48 subs | 48 min191 subs | 3 h 11 min764 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 13 min51 subs | 51 min203 subs | 3 h 22 min809 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 14 min58 subs | 57 min230 subs | 3 h 50 min920 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 17 min69 subs | 1 h 08 min274 subs | 4 h 34 min1,095 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 24 min96 subs | 1 h 35 min382 subs | 6 h 21 min1,525 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 37 min147 subs | 2 h 26 min586 subs | 9 h 46 min2,343 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 56 min226 subs | 3 h 46 min904 subs | 15 h3,614 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 1 h 39 min396 subs | 6 h 35 min1,582 subs | 26 h6,325 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 2 h 04 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.)
- 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 Lagoon Nebula is 90′ × 40′ across. The DWARF II frames 3.19° × 1.79° at 2.99″ per pixel, so it fills 84% of the frame’s short side.
Filters
The Lagoon Nebula is an emission target, where a dual-band filter would normally cut the time several-fold from a lit sky, but the DWARF II has no dual-band option: Two built-in filters, VIS and Astro (IR-pass); no dual-band. The optional UHC filter is no longer sold. The figures above are for the Astro position, and a darker sky is the lever that remains.
About the Lagoon Nebula
The showpiece emission nebula of the summer Milky Way, bright enough to catch its core in minutes. Pair it with the Trifid in one wide frame.
M8, NGC 6523 · Emission nebula in Sagittarius · magnitude 6.0 · 90′ × 40′ · best in Jun, Jul, Aug. Reachable from mid-northern latitudes (UK, northern US, central Europe) and from the south.
Emission nebulae glow in a few narrow lines, mostly hydrogen-alpha (deep red) and doubly ionised oxygen (teal). A dual-band filter passes those lines and blocks most skyglow, which is why it cuts the time needed from a suburban sky so dramatically. Use it. From a genuinely dark site the gain is smaller because there is less skyglow to block, and read noise becomes the limit, which is where longer subs (EQ mode, or Expert Mode on a Vespera) earn their keep.
Stars lose colour through a dual-band filter; a short broadband stack blended in fixes that if you care.
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 Lagoon Nebula from a DWARF II? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.
Same target, other telescopes
- Lagoon Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50: 20 min from Bortle 6
- Lagoon Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 22 min from Bortle 6
- Lagoon Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30: 22 min from Bortle 6
- Lagoon Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 24 min from Bortle 6
- Lagoon Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 25 min from Bortle 6
- Lagoon Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 19 min from Bortle 6
- Lagoon Nebula with the DwarfLab Draco: 16 min from Bortle 6
- Lagoon Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera II: 28 min from Bortle 6
- Lagoon Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 1 h 03 min from Bortle 6
- Lagoon Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 27 min from Bortle 6
- Lagoon Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 1 h from Bortle 6
- Lagoon Nebula with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 25 min from Bortle 6
- Lagoon Nebula with the Unistellar Odyssey: 1 h 55 min from Bortle 6
- Lagoon Nebula with the Celestron Origin: 7 min from Bortle 6
- Lagoon Nebula with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 10 min from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the Lagoon Nebula · All targets for the DWARF II