How long to image the Pacman Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF II
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the DwarfLab DWARF II needs about 9 h 16 min (2,225 subs of 15 s) for a solid image of the Pacman Nebula. A quick look takes 2 h 19 min; a showpiece 37 h. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 4 h 34 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it fills 33% 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 | 1 h 02 min247 subs | 4 h 07 min987 subs | 16 h3,947 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 1 h 04 min257 subs | 4 h 16 min1,025 subs | 17 h4,099 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 1 h 09 min275 subs | 4 h 34 min1,097 subs | 18 h4,387 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 1 h 19 min318 subs | 5 h 18 min1,271 subs | 21 h5,084 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 1 h 37 min387 subs | 6 h 27 min1,548 subs | 26 h6,189 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 2 h 19 min557 subs | 9 h 16 min2,225 subs | 37 h8,899 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 3 h 40 min879 subs | 15 h3,516 subs | 59 h14,064 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 5 h 45 min1,381 subs | 23 h5,521 subs | 92 h22,084 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 10 h2,450 subs | 41 h9,797 subs | 160+ h39,187 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 12 h of run time. That is more than one night: over 2 nights, about 6 h 02 min each. The DWARF II’s battery is rated at about 3 h, so each night needs an external power bank. (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 Pacman Nebula is 35′ × 30′ across. The DWARF II frames 3.19° × 1.79° at 2.99″ per pixel, so it fills 33% of the frame’s short side.
Filters
The Pacman 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 Pacman Nebula
A bright emission nebula with a dark lane biting into it. Compact, bright, and excellent with a dual-band filter from suburban skies.
NGC 281 · Emission nebula in Cassiopeia · magnitude 7.4 · 35′ × 30′ · best in Sep, Oct, Nov. 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 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 Pacman 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
- Pacman Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50: 1 h 41 min from Bortle 6
- Pacman Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 1 h 53 min from Bortle 6
- Pacman Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30: 1 h 58 min from Bortle 6
- Pacman Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 2 h 02 min from Bortle 6
- Pacman Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 2 h 05 min from Bortle 6
- Pacman Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 1 h 40 min from Bortle 6
- Pacman Nebula with the DwarfLab Draco: 1 h 20 min from Bortle 6
- Pacman Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera II: 2 h 42 min from Bortle 6
- Pacman Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 6 h 03 min from Bortle 6
- Pacman Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 2 h 35 min from Bortle 6
- Pacman Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 5 h 46 min from Bortle 6
- Pacman Nebula with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 2 h 28 min from Bortle 6
- Pacman Nebula with the Unistellar Odyssey: 11 h from Bortle 6
- Pacman Nebula with the Celestron Origin: 43 min from Bortle 6
- Pacman Nebula with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 59 min from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the Pacman Nebula · All targets for the DWARF II