How long to image the M86 with the Unistellar eQuinox 2
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the Unistellar eQuinox 2 needs about 1 h 18 min (1,178 subs of 4 s) for a solid image of the M86. A quick look takes 20 min; a showpiece 5 h 14 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 46 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it fills 26% 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 | 11 min161 subs | 43 min644 subs | 2 h 52 min2,575 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 11 min166 subs | 44 min661 subs | 2 h 56 min2,641 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 12 min173 subs | 46 min692 subs | 3 h 04 min2,765 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 13 min192 subs | 51 min767 subs | 3 h 24 min3,065 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 15 min222 subs | 59 min886 subs | 3 h 56 min3,541 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 20 min295 subs | 1 h 18 min1,178 subs | 5 h 14 min4,710 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 29 min434 subs | 1 h 56 min1,734 subs | 7 h 42 min6,936 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 43 min650 subs | 2 h 53 min2,598 subs | 12 h10,391 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 1 h 14 min1,111 subs | 4 h 56 min4,441 subs | 20 h17,762 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 1 h 42 min of run time. The eQuinox 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 power bank 20000mAh 5V 2AUnistellar asks for a 5 V 2 A output; PD is not needed.
- 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 eQuinox 2 →
How it frames
The M86 is 9′ × 6′ across. The eQuinox 2 frames 0.76° × 0.57° at 1.33″ per pixel, so it fills 26% of the frame’s short side.
About the M86
M84's companion in Markarian's Chain, a large elliptical falling into the Virgo cluster.
NGC 4406 · Galaxy in Virgo · magnitude 8.9 · 9′ × 6′ · best in Mar, Apr, May. 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 Unistellar eQuinox 2
A 114 mm Newtonian with five times the light grasp of a 50 mm refractor. Fixed 4 s subs put it in read-noise territory under dark skies, but the aperture carries it. The published field is 45.6′ × 34.2′, a crop of the sensor.
Fixed 4 s subs in Enhanced Vision; they cannot be changed. No built-in filter. Unistellar sells only a solar filter and says a third-party filter is at your own risk and voids the warranty.
The eQuinox 2 uses fixed 4 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 M86 from a eQuinox 2? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.
Same target, other telescopes
- M86 with the ZWO Seestar S50: 1 h 27 min from Bortle 6
- M86 with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 1 h 35 min from Bortle 6
- M86 with the ZWO Seestar S30: 1 h 32 min from Bortle 6
- M86 with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 1 h 41 min from Bortle 6
- M86 with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 2 h 07 min from Bortle 6
- M86 with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 1 h 27 min from Bortle 6
- M86 with the DwarfLab Draco: 1 h 12 min from Bortle 6
- M86 with the DwarfLab DWARF II: 4 h 57 min from Bortle 6
- M86 with the Vaonis Vespera II: 1 h 27 min from Bortle 6
- M86 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 3 h 15 min from Bortle 6
- M86 with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 1 h 23 min from Bortle 6
- M86 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 3 h 06 min from Bortle 6
- M86 with the Unistellar Odyssey: 6 h 02 min from Bortle 6
- M86 with the Celestron Origin: 23 min from Bortle 6
- M86 with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 32 min from Bortle 6