How long to image the Owl Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF II
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the DwarfLab DWARF II needs about 3 h (722 subs of 15 s) for a solid image of the Owl Nebula. A quick look takes 45 min; a showpiece 12 h. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 1 h 37 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it fills 3% 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 | 22 min89 subs | 1 h 29 min355 subs | 5 h 54 min1,418 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 23 min92 subs | 1 h 31 min366 subs | 6 h 06 min1,463 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 24 min97 subs | 1 h 37 min387 subs | 6 h 27 min1,548 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 27 min110 subs | 1 h 50 min439 subs | 7 h 19 min1,755 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 33 min131 subs | 2 h 10 min521 subs | 8 h 41 min2,083 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 45 min181 subs | 3 h722 subs | 12 h2,887 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 1 h 09 min277 subs | 4 h 36 min1,105 subs | 18 h4,419 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 1 h 46 min425 subs | 7 h 05 min1,700 subs | 28 h6,797 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 3 h 05 min742 subs | 12 h2,968 subs | 49 h11,870 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 3 h 55 min of run time. The DWARF II’s battery is rated at about 3 h, so the session needs an external power bank. (Bortle 6, solid image; we allow 30% over the integration time.)
- 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.
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Everything that fits the DWARF II →
How it frames
The Owl Nebula is 3.4′ × 3.3′ across. The DWARF II frames 3.19° × 1.79° at 2.99″ per pixel, so it fills 3% of the frame’s short side.
Filters
The Owl Nebula is an emission target, where a dual-band filter would normally cut the time several-fold from a lit sky, but the DWARF II has no dual-band option: Two built-in filters, VIS and Astro (IR-pass); no dual-band. The optional UHC filter is no longer sold. The figures above are for the Astro position, and a darker sky is the lever that remains.
About the Owl Nebula
A round planetary with two dark eyes. Large for its class and low in surface brightness; dual-band helps a lot.
M97, NGC 3587 · Planetary nebula in Ursa Major · magnitude 9.9 · 3.4′ × 3.3′ · best in Feb, Mar, Apr. Reachable from mid-northern latitudes (UK, northern US, central Europe) and from the south.
Planetary nebulae are small but intensely bright per pixel in OIII and H-alpha, so they respond very well to a dual-band filter and do not need much time for the main shell. The faint outer halos most of them have are a different proposition and need hours. Keep subs short if the central region saturates.
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 Owl Nebula from a DWARF II? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.
Same target, other telescopes
- Owl Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50: 38 min from Bortle 6
- Owl Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 42 min from Bortle 6
- Owl Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30: 43 min from Bortle 6
- Owl Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 45 min from Bortle 6
- Owl Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 49 min from Bortle 6
- Owl Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 37 min from Bortle 6
- Owl Nebula with the DwarfLab Draco: 30 min from Bortle 6
- Owl Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera II: 54 min from Bortle 6
- Owl Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 1 h 59 min from Bortle 6
- Owl Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 51 min from Bortle 6
- Owl Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 1 h 54 min from Bortle 6
- Owl Nebula with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 47 min from Bortle 6
- Owl Nebula with the Unistellar Odyssey: 3 h 36 min from Bortle 6
- Owl Nebula with the Celestron Origin: 14 min from Bortle 6
- Owl Nebula with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 20 min from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the Owl Nebula · All targets for the DWARF II