How long to image the Flame Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF mini
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the DwarfLab DWARF mini needs about 31 min (125 subs of 15 s with the built-in dual-band filter) for a solid image of the Flame Nebula. A quick look takes 8 min; a showpiece 2 h 05 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 23 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it fills 42% 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 | 5 min22 subs | 22 min88 subs | 1 h 27 min350 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 6 min23 subs | 22 min89 subs | 1 h 28 min354 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 6 min23 subs | 23 min91 subs | 1 h 31 min363 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 6 min24 subs | 24 min96 subs | 1 h 36 min384 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 7 min27 subs | 26 min105 subs | 1 h 44 min418 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 8 min32 subs | 31 min125 subs | 2 h 05 min500 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 10 min42 subs | 41 min165 subs | 2 h 44 min657 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 14 min57 subs | 56 min225 subs | 3 h 45 min900 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 22 min89 subs | 1 h 29 min355 subs | 5 h 55 min1,419 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 41 min of run time. The DWARF mini’s battery (rated about 3 h 30 min) 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, and 30% off the battery for a December night.)
- USB-C PD power bank 10000mAh 20W7,000 mAh inside, about four hours; a PD bank extends the night.
- 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 mini →
How it frames
The Flame Nebula is 30′ across. The DWARF mini frames 2.13° × 1.20° at 3.99″ per pixel, so it fills 42% of the frame’s short side.
Longer subs
Auto mode caps subs at 15 s; 30 s and longer need EQ mode, and 90 s is the ceiling. Time for a solid image by sub length:
| Sub length | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 s | 23 min91 subs | 26 min105 subs | 41 min165 subs |
| 30 s | 18 min36 subs | 21 min42 subs | 36 min72 subs |
| 60 s | 30 min30 subs | 30 min30 subs | 33 min34 subs |
| 90 s | 45 min30 subs | 45 min30 subs | 45 min30 subs |
With and without the dual-band filter
| Filter | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Astro (no light-pollution filter) | 19 min77 subs | 30 min121 subs | 1 h 19 min317 subs |
| dual-band | 23 min91 subs | 26 min105 subs | 41 min165 subs |
About the Flame Nebula
A bright emission nebula beside Alnitak, split by a dark lane like a tree. Alnitak's glare is the main problem; keep it out of the frame if you can.
NGC 2024 · Emission nebula in Orion · magnitude 10.0 · 30′ · best in Nov, Dec, Jan. Reachable from mid-northern latitudes (UK, northern US, central Europe) and from the south.
Emission nebulae glow in a few narrow lines, mostly hydrogen-alpha (deep red) and doubly ionised oxygen (teal). A dual-band filter passes those lines and blocks most skyglow, which is why it cuts the time needed from a suburban sky so dramatically. Use it. From a genuinely dark site the gain is smaller because there is less skyglow to block, and read noise becomes the limit, which is where longer subs (EQ mode, or Expert Mode on a Vespera) earn their keep.
Stars lose colour through a dual-band filter; a short broadband stack blended in fixes that if you care.
About the DwarfLab DWARF mini
DwarfLab’s answer to the Seestar S30: same sensor and focal length, big pixels, dual-band filter built in, and 90 s subs in EQ mode. Sensitivity over megapixels.
Auto mode caps subs at 15 s; 30 s and longer need EQ mode, and 90 s is the ceiling. Built-in Astro (430 to 690 nm), dark-frame and dual-band Hα / OIII filters; no plain VIS filter on the tele camera.
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 90 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 Flame Nebula from a DWARF mini? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.
Same target, other telescopes
- Flame Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50: 32 min from Bortle 6
- Flame Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 35 min from Bortle 6
- Flame Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30: 36 min from Bortle 6
- Flame Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 38 min from Bortle 6
- Flame Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 40 min from Bortle 6
- Flame Nebula with the DwarfLab Draco: 25 min from Bortle 6
- Flame Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF II: 2 h 41 min from Bortle 6
- Flame Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera II: 47 min from Bortle 6
- Flame Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 1 h 46 min from Bortle 6
- Flame Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 45 min from Bortle 6
- Flame Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 1 h 41 min from Bortle 6
- Flame Nebula with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 42 min from Bortle 6
- Flame Nebula with the Unistellar Odyssey: 3 h 15 min from Bortle 6
- Flame Nebula with the Celestron Origin: 13 min from Bortle 6
- Flame Nebula with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 17 min from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the Flame Nebula · All targets for the DWARF mini