How long should I image the Flame Nebula with the Draco from a Bortle 6 sky?

About 25 min of total integration for a solid image, or 1 h 41 min for a showpiece. A quick look takes 6 min.

How many subs is that on the Draco?

At the default 30 s sub length, 51 subs for a solid image from Bortle 6 and 37 from Bortle 3.

Does a dual-band filter help on the Flame Nebula?

Yes. It is an emission-line object; from Bortle 6 the filter cuts the solid-image time from 39 min to 25 min.

How long to image the Flame Nebula with the DwarfLab Draco

From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the DwarfLab Draco needs about 25 min (51 subs of 30 s with the built-in dual-narrowband (Hα + OIII) filter) for a solid image of the Flame Nebula. A quick look takes 6 min; a showpiece 1 h 41 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 18 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it fills 40% of the frame’s short side.

Flame Nebula with the DwarfLab Draco: 30 s subs with the built-in dual-narrowband (Hα + OIII) filter.
Sky	Quick lookTarget obvious, still noisy	SolidClean enough to share	ShowpieceSmooth faint detail, print-worthy
Bortle 1Excellent dark site	5 min10 subs	17 min35 subs	1 h 09 min139 subs
Bortle 2Typical dark site	5 min10 subs	18 min36 subs	1 h 10 min141 subs
Bortle 3Rural	5 min10 subs	18 min37 subs	1 h 12 min145 subs
Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition	5 min10 subs	19 min39 subs	1 h 17 min154 subs
Bortle 5Suburban	5 min11 subs	21 min42 subs	1 h 24 min168 subs
Bortle 6Bright suburban	6 min13 subs	25 min51 subs	1 h 41 min202 subs
Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition	8 min17 subs	33 min67 subs	2 h 13 min267 subs
Bortle 8City	12 min24 subs	46 min93 subs	3 h 04 min369 subs
Bortle 9Inner city	18 min37 subs	1 h 13 min147 subs	4 h 52 min585 subs

Adjust in the calculator

Power and kit for this session

Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 33 min of run time. The Draco’s battery (rated about 5 h) 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 20000mAhRated 5 h on its 10,000 mAh battery. DwarfLab has not published the charging input, so check PD support before relying on it mid-session.
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red LED head torchRed light keeps your night vision; white light costs you twenty minutes of dark adaptation every time.
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How it frames

The Flame Nebula is 30′ across. The Draco frames 1.66° × 1.24° at 1.46″ per pixel, so it fills 40% of the frame’s short side.

Longer subs

Auto Mode picks the exposure; Pro Mode allows up to 300 s, held by built-in guiding and field derotation. The 30 s default here is our assumption. Time for a solid image by sub length:

Sub length	Bortle 3	Bortle 5	Bortle 7
30 s	18 min37 subs	21 min42 subs	33 min67 subs
60 s	30 min30 subs	30 min30 subs	30 min30 subs
120 s	1 h30 subs	1 h30 subs	1 h30 subs
300 s	2 h 30 min30 subs	2 h 30 min30 subs	2 h 30 min30 subs

With and without the dual-band filter

Solid quality, default sub length.
Filter	Bortle 3	Bortle 5	Bortle 7
No filter	15 min31 subs	25 min50 subs	1 h 05 min131 subs
dual-narrowband (Hα + OIII)	18 min37 subs	21 min42 subs	33 min67 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 Draco

DwarfLab’s big scope: 90 mm of folded f/3.8 optics, the most aperture of any Seestar or DWARF, a narrow 13 nm dual-band filter and 300 s subs with built-in guiding. A small-target scope; big nebulae need its mosaic mode.

Auto Mode picks the exposure; Pro Mode allows up to 300 s, held by built-in guiding and field derotation. The 30 s default here is our assumption. Built-in Hα + OIII dual-narrowband filter, 13 nm per line; the SHO Edition adds an SII option.

Longer subs matter most under dark skies, where read noise rather than skyglow sets the floor. From a city the difference between 30 s and 300 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.

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Imaged the Flame Nebula with your Draco? Did the solid figure match?Anonymous, one tap. It is how the model gets calibrated.

Have an image of the Flame Nebula from a Draco? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.

Same target, other telescopes

All telescopes for the Flame Nebula · All targets for the Draco