How long to image the Tarantula Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF II
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the DwarfLab DWARF II needs about 2 h 41 min (643 subs of 15 s) for a solid image of the Tarantula Nebula. A quick look takes 40 min; a showpiece 11 h. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 1 h 23 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it fills 37% 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 | 19 min76 subs | 1 h 15 min302 subs | 5 h 01 min1,206 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 19 min78 subs | 1 h 18 min312 subs | 5 h 12 min1,248 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 21 min83 subs | 1 h 23 min332 subs | 5 h 32 min1,327 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 24 min95 subs | 1 h 35 min380 subs | 6 h 20 min1,519 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 28 min114 subs | 1 h 54 min456 subs | 7 h 36 min1,823 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 40 min161 subs | 2 h 41 min643 subs | 11 h2,570 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 1 h 02 min250 subs | 4 h 09 min998 subs | 17 h3,992 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 1 h 37 min388 subs | 6 h 28 min1,551 subs | 26 h6,201 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 2 h 50 min682 subs | 11 h2,728 subs | 45 h10,912 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 3 h 29 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.
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How it frames
The Tarantula Nebula is 40′ × 25′ across. The DWARF II frames 3.19° × 1.79° at 2.99″ per pixel, so it fills 37% of the frame’s short side.
Filters
The Tarantula Nebula is an emission target, where a dual-band filter would normally cut the time several-fold from a lit sky, but the DWARF II has no dual-band option: Two built-in filters, VIS and Astro (IR-pass); no dual-band. The optional UHC filter is no longer sold. The figures above are for the Astro position, and a darker sky is the lever that remains.
About the Tarantula Nebula
The giant star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud, bright enough to see naked-eye from another galaxy. Far south only.
NGC 2070, Caldwell 103, 30 Doradus · Emission nebula in Dorado · magnitude 8.0 · 40′ × 25′ · best in Nov, Dec, Jan. Southern hemisphere only.
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 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 Tarantula 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
- Tarantula Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50: 32 min from Bortle 6
- Tarantula Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 35 min from Bortle 6
- Tarantula Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30: 36 min from Bortle 6
- Tarantula Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 38 min from Bortle 6
- Tarantula Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 40 min from Bortle 6
- Tarantula Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 31 min from Bortle 6
- Tarantula Nebula with the DwarfLab Draco: 25 min from Bortle 6
- Tarantula Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera II: 47 min from Bortle 6
- Tarantula Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 1 h 46 min from Bortle 6
- Tarantula Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 45 min from Bortle 6
- Tarantula Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 1 h 41 min from Bortle 6
- Tarantula Nebula with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 42 min from Bortle 6
- Tarantula Nebula with the Unistellar Odyssey: 3 h 15 min from Bortle 6
- Tarantula Nebula with the Celestron Origin: 13 min from Bortle 6
- Tarantula Nebula with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 17 min from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the Tarantula Nebula · All targets for the DWARF II