How long to image the M89 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2 needs about 3 h 04 min (1,106 subs of 10 s) for a solid image of the M89. A quick look takes 46 min; a showpiece 12 h. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 1 h 22 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 5% 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 | 18 min109 subs | 1 h 12 min434 subs | 4 h 49 min1,733 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 19 min114 subs | 1 h 16 min454 subs | 5 h 03 min1,816 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 21 min124 subs | 1 h 22 min493 subs | 5 h 29 min1,972 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 24 min147 subs | 1 h 38 min588 subs | 6 h 32 min2,350 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 31 min185 subs | 2 h 03 min738 subs | 8 h 12 min2,950 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 46 min277 subs | 3 h 04 min1,106 subs | 12 h4,421 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 1 h 15 min452 subs | 5 h 01 min1,807 subs | 20 h7,225 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 2 h 01 min724 subs | 8 h 02 min2,895 subs | 32 h11,577 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 3 h 37 min1,304 subs | 14 h5,215 subs | 58 h20,860 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 3 h 59 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.)
- 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.
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Everything that fits the Vespera Pro 2 →
How it frames
The M89 is 5′ × 4′ across. The Vespera Pro 2 frames 1.65° × 1.65° at 1.68″ per pixel, so it fills 5% 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 | 1 h 22 min493 subs | 2 h 03 min738 subs | 5 h 01 min1,807 subs |
| 20 s | 1 h 10 min210 subs | 1 h 51 min332 subs | 4 h 49 min867 subs |
| 30 s | 1 h 06 min132 subs | 1 h 46 min213 subs | 4 h 45 min570 subs |
About the M89
An almost perfectly round elliptical near M87. Another smudge for the Virgo collection.
NGC 4552 · Galaxy in Virgo · magnitude 9.8 · 5′ × 4′ · 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 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 M89 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
- M89 with the ZWO Seestar S50: 1 h 27 min from Bortle 6
- M89 with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 1 h 35 min from Bortle 6
- M89 with the ZWO Seestar S30: 1 h 31 min from Bortle 6
- M89 with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 1 h 40 min from Bortle 6
- M89 with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 2 h 06 min from Bortle 6
- M89 with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 1 h 26 min from Bortle 6
- M89 with the DwarfLab Draco: 1 h 11 min from Bortle 6
- M89 with the DwarfLab DWARF II: 4 h 53 min from Bortle 6
- M89 with the Vaonis Vespera II: 1 h 27 min from Bortle 6
- M89 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 3 h 13 min from Bortle 6
- M89 with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 1 h 23 min from Bortle 6
- M89 with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 1 h 17 min from Bortle 6
- M89 with the Unistellar Odyssey: 5 h 55 min from Bortle 6
- M89 with the Celestron Origin: 23 min from Bortle 6
- M89 with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 32 min from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the M89 · All targets for the Vespera Pro 2