How long to image the NGC 1333 with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro needs about 7 h 02 min (2,534 subs of 10 s) for a solid image of the NGC 1333. A quick look takes 1 h 46 min; a showpiece 28 h. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 2 h 42 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 4% 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 | 34 min206 subs | 2 h 17 min823 subs | 9 h 08 min3,289 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 36 min219 subs | 2 h 26 min875 subs | 9 h 43 min3,500 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 41 min244 subs | 2 h 42 min975 subs | 11 h3,897 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 51 min304 subs | 3 h 23 min1,216 subs | 14 h4,861 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 1 h 07 min400 subs | 4 h 26 min1,597 subs | 18 h6,388 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 1 h 46 min634 subs | 7 h 02 min2,534 subs | 28 h10,135 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 3 h1,080 subs | 12 h4,319 subs | 48 h17,275 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 4 h 55 min1,773 subs | 20 h7,091 subs | 79 h28,361 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 9 h 02 min3,251 subs | 36 h13,002 subs | 140+ h52,005 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 9 h 09 min of run time. That is more than one night: over 2 nights, about 4 h 34 min each. The Seestar S30 Pro’s battery is rated at about 5 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 power bank 10000mAh 5V 3A5 V 3 A input and it runs while charging.
- Seestar S30 Pro dew shieldActive anti-dew is built in; a shield adds margin. The S30 Pro front differs from the S30, so check the listing.
- 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 Seestar S30 Pro →
How it frames
The NGC 1333 is 6′ × 3′ across. The Seestar S30 Pro frames 3.99° × 2.24° at 3.74″ per pixel, so it fills 4% of the frame’s short side.
Longer subs
10, 20 and 30 s in Alt-Az; 60 s only in EQ mode, which needs the TH10 head. Time for a solid image by sub length:
| Sub length | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 s | 2 h 42 min975 subs | 4 h 26 min1,597 subs | 12 h4,319 subs |
| 20 s | 2 h 15 min405 subs | 3 h 58 min716 subs | 12 h2,077 subs |
| 30 s | 2 h 05 min251 subs | 3 h 49 min459 subs | 11 h1,366 subs |
| 60 s | 1 h 56 min117 subs | 3 h 40 min221 subs | 11 h674 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 13 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 ZWO Seestar S30 Pro
The S30 optics upgraded to a quadruplet in front of an 8 MP IMX585. Same speed per pixel as the S30, four times the pixels, so you can crop hard.
10, 20 and 30 s in Alt-Az; 60 s only in EQ mode, which needs the TH10 head. Built-in UV/IR-cut, dual-band (OIII 30 nm / Hα 20 nm) and dark filters on the telephoto camera.
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 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 Seestar S30 Pro? 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 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 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 Seestar S30 Pro