How long to image the NGC 1333 with the DwarfLab DWARF 3
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the DwarfLab DWARF 3 needs about 8 h 48 min (2,113 subs of 15 s) for a solid image of the NGC 1333. A quick look takes 2 h 12 min; a showpiece 35 h. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 2 h 55 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 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 | 35 min141 subs | 2 h 21 min564 subs | 9 h 23 min2,253 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 38 min153 subs | 2 h 33 min611 subs | 10 h2,443 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 44 min176 subs | 2 h 55 min701 subs | 12 h2,803 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 57 min230 subs | 3 h 50 min919 subs | 15 h3,675 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 1 h 19 min317 subs | 5 h 16 min1,265 subs | 21 h5,058 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 2 h 12 min529 subs | 8 h 48 min2,113 subs | 35 h8,449 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 3 h 53 min932 subs | 16 h3,728 subs | 62 h14,912 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 6 h 30 min1,560 subs | 26 h6,237 subs | 100+ h24,946 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 12 h2,897 subs | 48 h11,587 subs | 190+ h46,345 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 11 h of run time. That is more than one night: over 2 nights, about 5 h 43 min each. The DWARF 3’s battery is rated at about 5 h 30 min, 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 20000mAh 18W18 W PD input and it runs while charging; needs a C-to-C cable for PD.
- 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 3 →
How it frames
The NGC 1333 is 6′ × 3′ across. The DWARF 3 frames 2.93° × 1.65° at 2.75″ per pixel, so it fills 6% of the frame’s short side.
Longer subs
Auto mode caps subs at 15 s; 30 s and longer need EQ mode, and 60 s is the ceiling on the tele camera. Time for a solid image by sub length:
| Sub length | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 s | 2 h 55 min701 subs | 5 h 16 min1,265 subs | 16 h3,728 subs |
| 30 s | 2 h 43 min326 subs | 5 h 04 min608 subs | 15 h1,840 subs |
| 60 s | 2 h 37 min157 subs | 4 h 58 min298 subs | 15 h914 subs |
Leave the dual-band filter out for the NGC 1333. It is a reflection nebula, and it shines right across the spectrum. A dual-band filter keeps two emission lines and throws the rest away, so most of the light you came for is being stopped along with the sky. From a Bortle 6 sky it would be roughly 10 times slower.
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 3
Small pixels on a 35 mm f/4.3 lens give a sharper image than its aperture suggests, and EQ mode with 60 s subs makes it the read-noise winner in dark skies.
Auto mode caps subs at 15 s; 30 s and longer need EQ mode, and 60 s is the ceiling on the tele camera. Three built-in filters: VIS, Astro (430 to 690 nm) and dual-band Hα 656 nm / OIII 501 nm.
Longer subs matter most under dark skies, where read noise rather than skyglow sets the floor. From a city the difference between 15 s and 60 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 NGC 1333 from a DWARF 3? 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 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 DwarfLab DWARF II: 21 h 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 3