How long to image the Bode's Galaxy with the DwarfLab DWARF II
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the DwarfLab DWARF II needs about 3 h 37 min (870 subs of 15 s) for a solid image of the Bode's Galaxy. A quick look takes 54 min; a showpiece 14 h. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 1 h 51 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it fills 25% 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 | 25 min101 subs | 1 h 40 min402 subs | 6 h 41 min1,606 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 26 min104 subs | 1 h 44 min416 subs | 6 h 56 min1,663 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 28 min111 subs | 1 h 51 min443 subs | 7 h 23 min1,772 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 32 min128 subs | 2 h 07 min509 subs | 8 h 29 min2,036 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 38 min154 subs | 2 h 33 min614 subs | 10 h2,453 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 54 min218 subs | 3 h 37 min870 subs | 14 h3,479 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 1 h 25 min340 subs | 5 h 39 min1,358 subs | 23 h5,432 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 2 h 12 min530 subs | 8 h 49 min2,117 subs | 35 h8,466 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 3 h 53 min934 subs | 16 h3,734 subs | 62 h14,935 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 4 h 43 min of run time. The DWARF II’s battery is rated at about 3 h, less near freezing, so the session needs an external power bank. (Bortle 6, solid image; we allow 30% over the integration time, and 30% off the battery for a February 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.
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Everything that fits the DWARF II →
How it frames
The Bode's Galaxy is 27′ × 14′ across. The DWARF II frames 3.19° × 1.79° at 2.99″ per pixel, so it fills 25% of the frame’s short side.
About the Bode's Galaxy
A big, bright grand-design spiral that circles the pole for northern imagers, so it is available all year. Shares a frame with M82.
M81, NGC 3031 · Galaxy in Ursa Major · magnitude 6.9 · 27′ × 14′ · best in Jan, Feb, Mar. 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 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 Bode's Galaxy from a DWARF II? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.
Same target, other telescopes
- Bode's Galaxy with the ZWO Seestar S50: 1 h 04 min from Bortle 6
- Bode's Galaxy with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 1 h 10 min from Bortle 6
- Bode's Galaxy with the ZWO Seestar S30: 1 h 07 min from Bortle 6
- Bode's Galaxy with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 1 h 14 min from Bortle 6
- Bode's Galaxy with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 1 h 33 min from Bortle 6
- Bode's Galaxy with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 1 h 03 min from Bortle 6
- Bode's Galaxy with the DwarfLab Draco: 52 min from Bortle 6
- Bode's Galaxy with the Vaonis Vespera II: 1 h 04 min from Bortle 6
- Bode's Galaxy with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 2 h 23 min from Bortle 6
- Bode's Galaxy with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 1 h 01 min from Bortle 6
- Bode's Galaxy with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 2 h 16 min from Bortle 6
- Bode's Galaxy with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 58 min from Bortle 6
- Bode's Galaxy with the Unistellar Odyssey: 4 h 25 min from Bortle 6
- Bode's Galaxy with the Celestron Origin: 17 min from Bortle 6
- Bode's Galaxy with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 23 min from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the Bode's Galaxy · All targets for the DWARF II