How long to image the Sculptor Galaxy with the DwarfLab DWARF II
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the DwarfLab DWARF II needs about 1 h 39 min (395 subs of 15 s) for a solid image of the Sculptor Galaxy. A quick look takes 25 min; a showpiece 6 h 34 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 52 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it fills 25% 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 | 12 min48 subs | 48 min191 subs | 3 h 11 min763 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 12 min50 subs | 49 min197 subs | 3 h 17 min788 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 13 min53 subs | 52 min209 subs | 3 h 29 min836 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 15 min60 subs | 59 min238 subs | 3 h 57 min950 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 18 min71 subs | 1 h 11 min283 subs | 4 h 43 min1,132 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 25 min99 subs | 1 h 39 min395 subs | 6 h 34 min1,577 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 38 min152 subs | 2 h 32 min607 subs | 10 h2,426 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 58 min234 subs | 3 h 54 min936 subs | 16 h3,744 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 1 h 42 min410 subs | 6 h 50 min1,639 subs | 27 h6,554 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 2 h 08 min of run time. The DWARF II’s battery (rated about 3 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.)
- 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.
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Everything that fits the DWARF II →
How it frames
The Sculptor Galaxy is 27′ × 7′ across. The DWARF II frames 3.19° × 1.79° at 2.99″ per pixel, so it fills 25% of the frame’s short side.
About the Sculptor Galaxy
A big, dusty, nearly edge-on starburst galaxy, superb from the south and low but possible from mid-northern latitudes.
NGC 253, Caldwell 65, Silver Coin · Galaxy in Sculptor · magnitude 7.2 · 27′ × 7′ · best in Sep, Oct, Nov. Reachable from mid-northern latitudes (UK, northern US, central Europe) and from the south.
Galaxies are broadband targets: their light is mostly starlight spread across the spectrum, so a dual-band filter throws most of it away and makes things slower, not faster. Shoot without a filter (or with a plain UV/IR cut) and rely on total time and a dark sky. The core of a galaxy is usually many times brighter than its outer disc, so a short stack shows the nucleus long before the arms; the figures here are for the arms and disc, not the core.
Field rotation in Alt-Az mode crops the edges of the stack over a long session, so on a big galaxy re-centre now and then or use EQ mode where your scope supports it.
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 Sculptor Galaxy from a DWARF II? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.
Same target, other telescopes
- Sculptor Galaxy with the ZWO Seestar S50: 29 min from Bortle 6
- Sculptor Galaxy with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 32 min from Bortle 6
- Sculptor Galaxy with the ZWO Seestar S30: 31 min from Bortle 6
- Sculptor Galaxy with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 34 min from Bortle 6
- Sculptor Galaxy with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 43 min from Bortle 6
- Sculptor Galaxy with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 29 min from Bortle 6
- Sculptor Galaxy with the DwarfLab Draco: 24 min from Bortle 6
- Sculptor Galaxy with the Vaonis Vespera II: 29 min from Bortle 6
- Sculptor Galaxy with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 1 h 05 min from Bortle 6
- Sculptor Galaxy with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 28 min from Bortle 6
- Sculptor Galaxy with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 1 h 02 min from Bortle 6
- Sculptor Galaxy with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 26 min from Bortle 6
- Sculptor Galaxy with the Unistellar Odyssey: 1 h 59 min from Bortle 6
- Sculptor Galaxy with the Celestron Origin: 8 min from Bortle 6
- Sculptor Galaxy with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 11 min from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the Sculptor Galaxy · All targets for the DWARF II