How long to image the M96 with the Vaonis Vespera 3
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the Vaonis Vespera 3 needs about 1 h 32 min (554 subs of 10 s) for a solid image of the M96. A quick look takes 23 min; a showpiece 6 h 09 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 37 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 9% 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 | 8 min48 subs | 32 min192 subs | 2 h 07 min765 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 8 min51 subs | 34 min203 subs | 2 h 15 min810 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 9 min56 subs | 37 min224 subs | 2 h 29 min894 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 11 min69 subs | 46 min275 subs | 3 h 03 min1,098 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 15 min89 subs | 59 min356 subs | 3 h 57 min1,422 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 23 min139 subs | 1 h 32 min554 subs | 6 h 09 min2,215 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 39 min233 subs | 2 h 35 min932 subs | 10 h3,727 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 1 h 03 min380 subs | 4 h 13 min1,519 subs | 17 h6,075 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 1 h 55 min693 subs | 7 h 42 min2,771 subs | 31 h11,083 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 2 h of run time. The Vespera 3’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 30WVaonis says an external bank extends sessions; 30 W PD as for the II and Pro.
- 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 3 →
How it frames
The M96 is 7.6′ × 5.2′ across. The Vespera 3 frames 2.60° × 1.46° at 2.44″ per pixel, so it fills 9% 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 widens the field to 4.3° × 2.4°. Time for a solid image by sub length:
| Sub length | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 s | 37 min224 subs | 59 min356 subs | 2 h 35 min932 subs |
| 20 s | 32 min97 subs | 54 min163 subs | 2 h 30 min452 subs |
| 30 s | 31 min62 subs | 53 min106 subs | 2 h 29 min298 subs |
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 Vaonis Vespera 3
The 2026 Vespera: same 50 mm quadruplet class as the II on an 8 MP IMX585, with a 24 MP mosaic mode and 11 hours of battery. Per pixel it behaves like a Seestar S50 Pro without the built-in dual-band filter.
10 s subs by default; Expert Mode manual targets allow 1 to 30 s. Alt-azimuth only; CovalENS mosaic widens the field to 4.3° × 2.4°. Optional clip-on Vaonis filters: dual-band, light-pollution (CLS) and solar. The new optical baffle is not a substitute for a CLS filter.
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 M96 from a Vespera 3? 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 Pro 2: 3 h 26 min from Bortle 6
- M96 with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 1 h 27 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