How long to image the Running Man Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF II
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the DwarfLab DWARF II needs about 3 h 48 min (914 subs of 15 s) for a solid image of the Running Man Nebula. A quick look takes 57 min; a showpiece 15 h. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 1 h 56 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it fills 19% 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 | 26 min106 subs | 1 h 45 min421 subs | 7 h1,682 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 27 min109 subs | 1 h 49 min436 subs | 7 h 16 min1,743 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 29 min117 subs | 1 h 56 min465 subs | 7 h 44 min1,857 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 33 min134 subs | 2 h 13 min534 subs | 8 h 54 min2,135 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 40 min161 subs | 2 h 41 min644 subs | 11 h2,575 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 57 min229 subs | 3 h 48 min914 subs | 15 h3,654 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 1 h 29 min357 subs | 5 h 57 min1,428 subs | 24 h5,710 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 2 h 19 min557 subs | 9 h 16 min2,226 subs | 37 h8,902 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 4 h 05 min982 subs | 16 h3,928 subs | 65 h15,711 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 4 h 57 min of run time. The DWARF II’s battery is rated at about 3 h, less near freezing, so the session needs an external power bank. (Bortle 6, solid image; we allow 30% over the integration time, and 30% off the battery for a December 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.
Affiliate links: the retailer pays us a small commission and you pay the same price. These are search links to the named product, not endorsements of a particular listing; check the listing matches your model.
Everything that fits the DWARF II →
How it frames
The Running Man Nebula is 20′ × 10′ across. The DWARF II frames 3.19° × 1.79° at 2.99″ per pixel, so it fills 19% of the frame’s short side.
About the Running Man Nebula
The blue reflection nebula just north of M42 with a dark figure running through it. Broadband only; it comes free in a long Orion stack.
NGC 1977, Sh2-279 · Reflection nebula in Orion · magnitude 7.0 · 20′ × 10′ · best in Nov, Dec, Jan. 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 Running Man 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
- Running Man Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50: 1 h 07 min from Bortle 6
- Running Man Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 1 h 13 min from Bortle 6
- Running Man Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30: 1 h 10 min from Bortle 6
- Running Man Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 1 h 18 min from Bortle 6
- Running Man Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 1 h 37 min from Bortle 6
- Running Man Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 1 h 07 min from Bortle 6
- Running Man Nebula with the DwarfLab Draco: 55 min from Bortle 6
- Running Man Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera II: 1 h 07 min from Bortle 6
- Running Man Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 2 h 30 min from Bortle 6
- Running Man Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 1 h 04 min from Bortle 6
- Running Man Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 2 h 23 min from Bortle 6
- Running Man Nebula with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 1 h from Bortle 6
- Running Man Nebula with the Unistellar Odyssey: 4 h 39 min from Bortle 6
- Running Man Nebula with the Celestron Origin: 18 min from Bortle 6
- Running Man Nebula with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 24 min from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the Running Man Nebula · All targets for the DWARF II