How long to image the NGC 1333 with the DwarfLab DWARF II
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the DwarfLab DWARF II needs about 21 h (5,006 subs of 15 s) for a solid image of the NGC 1333. A quick look takes 5 h 13 min; a showpiece 83 h. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 10 h. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it fills 6% 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 | 2 h 19 min555 subs | 9 h 15 min2,220 subs | 37 h8,880 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 2 h 24 min577 subs | 9 h 36 min2,306 subs | 38 h9,222 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 2 h 34 min617 subs | 10 h2,468 subs | 41 h9,870 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 2 h 59 min715 subs | 12 h2,860 subs | 48 h11,438 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 3 h 38 min871 subs | 15 h3,481 subs | 58 h13,924 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 5 h 13 min1,252 subs | 21 h5,006 subs | 83 h20,023 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 8 h 14 min1,978 subs | 33 h7,911 subs | 130+ h31,644 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 13 h3,106 subs | 52 h12,422 subs | 210+ h49,688 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 23 h5,511 subs | 92 h22,043 subs | 370+ h88,170 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 27 h of run time. That is more than one night: over 4 nights, about 6 h 47 min each. The DWARF II’s battery is rated at about 3 h, less near freezing, so each night needs an external power bank. (Bortle 6, solid image; we allow 30% over the integration time, and 30% off the battery for a November night.)
- 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.
- hand warmers long lastingAir-activated packs give hours of heat for the person; winter nights are long and you spend most of them standing still.
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Everything that fits the DWARF II →
How it frames
The NGC 1333 is 6′ × 3′ across. The DWARF II frames 3.19° × 1.79° at 2.99″ per pixel, so it fills 6% of the frame’s short side.
About the NGC 1333
A blue reflection nebula amid a maze of dark dust and red Herbig-Haro jets. Broadband, dark sky, long stack.
Perseus Molecular Cloud · Reflection nebula in Perseus · magnitude 9.5 · 6′ × 3′ · best in Oct, Nov, Dec. Reachable from mid-northern latitudes (UK, northern US, central Europe) and from the south.
Reflection nebulae are starlight scattered by dust, so they are broadband and blue. A dual-band filter removes almost all of it; do not use one. These are among the faintest structures a smart scope can attempt and the figures run long. A dark sky matters more here than for any other type, and the Moon must be down.
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 NGC 1333 from a DWARF II? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.
Same target, other telescopes
- NGC 1333 with the ZWO Seestar S50: 6 h 04 min from Bortle 6
- NGC 1333 with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 6 h 38 min from Bortle 6
- NGC 1333 with the ZWO Seestar S30: 6 h 23 min from Bortle 6
- NGC 1333 with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 7 h 02 min from Bortle 6
- NGC 1333 with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 8 h 48 min from Bortle 6
- NGC 1333 with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 6 h 02 min from Bortle 6
- NGC 1333 with the DwarfLab Draco: 4 h 59 min from Bortle 6
- NGC 1333 with the Vaonis Vespera II: 6 h 04 min from Bortle 6
- NGC 1333 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 14 h from Bortle 6
- NGC 1333 with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 5 h 48 min from Bortle 6
- NGC 1333 with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 13 h from Bortle 6
- NGC 1333 with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 5 h 33 min from Bortle 6
- NGC 1333 with the Unistellar Odyssey: 26 h from Bortle 6
- NGC 1333 with the Celestron Origin: 1 h 36 min from Bortle 6
- NGC 1333 with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 2 h 12 min from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the NGC 1333 · All targets for the DWARF II