How long to image the M96 with the Unistellar eQuinox 2
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the Unistellar eQuinox 2 needs about 1 h 27 min (1,302 subs of 4 s) for a solid image of the M96. A quick look takes 22 min; a showpiece 5 h 47 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 22% 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 min179 subs | 48 min714 subs | 3 h 10 min2,854 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 12 min183 subs | 49 min732 subs | 3 h 15 min2,926 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 13 min192 subs | 51 min766 subs | 3 h 24 min3,062 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 14 min213 subs | 57 min849 subs | 3 h 46 min3,394 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 16 min245 subs | 1 h 05 min980 subs | 4 h 21 min3,918 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 22 min326 subs | 1 h 27 min1,302 subs | 5 h 47 min5,206 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 32 min479 subs | 2 h 08 min1,915 subs | 8 h 31 min7,659 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 48 min717 subs | 3 h 11 min2,868 subs | 13 h11,469 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 1 h 22 min1,225 subs | 5 h 27 min4,899 subs | 22 h19,593 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 1 h 53 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 M96 is 7.6′ × 5.2′ across. The eQuinox 2 frames 0.76° × 0.57° at 1.33″ per pixel, so it fills 22% of the frame’s short side.
About the M96
The brightest of the M95/M96/M105 group, a slightly asymmetric spiral.
NGC 3368 · Galaxy in Leo · magnitude 9.2 · 7.6′ × 5.2′ · best in Feb, Mar, Apr. 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 M96 from a eQuinox 2? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.
Same target, other telescopes
- M96 with the ZWO Seestar S50: 1 h 37 min from Bortle 6
- M96 with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 1 h 46 min from Bortle 6
- M96 with the ZWO Seestar S30: 1 h 41 min from Bortle 6
- M96 with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 1 h 52 min from Bortle 6
- M96 with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 2 h 21 min from Bortle 6
- M96 with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 1 h 36 min from Bortle 6
- M96 with the DwarfLab Draco: 1 h 19 min from Bortle 6
- M96 with the DwarfLab DWARF II: 5 h 29 min from Bortle 6
- M96 with the Vaonis Vespera II: 1 h 37 min from Bortle 6
- M96 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 3 h 36 min from Bortle 6
- M96 with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 1 h 32 min from Bortle 6
- M96 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 3 h 26 min from Bortle 6
- M96 with the Unistellar Odyssey: 6 h 39 min from Bortle 6
- M96 with the Celestron Origin: 26 min from Bortle 6
- M96 with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 35 min from Bortle 6