How long to image the Owl Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2 needs about 1 h 54 min (683 subs of 10 s) for a solid image of the Owl Nebula. A quick look takes 28 min; a showpiece 7 h 35 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 53 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 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 | 12 min71 subs | 47 min283 subs | 3 h 08 min1,129 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 12 min74 subs | 49 min295 subs | 3 h 16 min1,179 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 13 min80 subs | 53 min318 subs | 3 h 32 min1,272 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 16 min94 subs | 1 h 02 min375 subs | 4 h 09 min1,497 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 19 min116 subs | 1 h 17 min464 subs | 5 h 09 min1,854 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 28 min171 subs | 1 h 54 min683 subs | 7 h 35 min2,731 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 46 min276 subs | 3 h 03 min1,101 subs | 12 h4,402 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 1 h 13 min438 subs | 4 h 51 min1,749 subs | 19 h6,995 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 2 h 10 min783 subs | 8 h 42 min3,132 subs | 35 h12,527 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 2 h 28 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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How it frames
The Owl Nebula is 3.4′ × 3.3′ across. The Vespera Pro 2 frames 1.65° × 1.65° at 1.68″ per pixel, so it fills 3% 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 | 53 min318 subs | 1 h 17 min464 subs | 3 h 03 min1,101 subs |
| 20 s | 46 min137 subs | 1 h 10 min210 subs | 2 h 56 min529 subs |
| 30 s | 43 min87 subs | 1 h 07 min135 subs | 2 h 54 min348 subs |
With and without the dual-band filter
| Filter | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No filter | 53 min318 subs | 1 h 17 min464 subs | 3 h 03 min1,101 subs |
| dual-band (Dual Band filter), clip-on | 1 h 09 min417 subs | 1 h 17 min462 subs | 1 h 49 min657 subs |
The Vespera Pro 2 has no built-in dual-band filter. Optional clip-on Vaonis filters: dual-band, light-pollution (CLS) and solar. On an emission target like this it is the single biggest upgrade you can make.
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 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 Owl Nebula 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
- 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 DwarfLab DWARF II: 3 h 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 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 Vespera Pro 2