How long should I image the Carina Nebula with the Vespera II from a Bortle 6 sky?

About 12 min of total integration for a solid image, or 49 min for a showpiece. A quick look takes 3 min.

How many subs is that on the Vespera II?

At the default 10 s sub length, 74 subs for a solid image from Bortle 6 and 35 from Bortle 3.

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

Yes. It is an emission-line object; from Bortle 6 the filter cuts the solid-image time from 12 min to 9 min.

How long to image the Carina Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera II

From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the Vaonis Vespera II needs about 12 min (74 subs of 10 s) for a solid image of the Carina Nebula. A quick look takes 3 min; a showpiece 49 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 6 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is skyglow, so a darker site or a filter helps more than longer subs. In this scope's field it is just over the frame at 1.4×.

Carina Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera II: 10 s subs.
Sky	Quick lookTarget obvious, still noisy	SolidClean enough to share	ShowpieceSmooth faint detail, print-worthy
Bortle 1Excellent dark site	2 min10 subs	5 min32 subs	21 min125 subs
Bortle 2Typical dark site	2 min10 subs	5 min33 subs	22 min130 subs
Bortle 3Rural	2 min10 subs	6 min35 subs	23 min140 subs
Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition	2 min11 subs	7 min41 subs	27 min164 subs
Bortle 5Suburban	2 min13 subs	8 min51 subs	33 min201 subs
Bortle 6Bright suburban	3 min19 subs	12 min74 subs	49 min294 subs
Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition	5 min30 subs	20 min118 subs	1 h 18 min470 subs
Bortle 8City	8 min47 subs	31 min186 subs	2 h 04 min743 subs
Bortle 9Inner city	14 min83 subs	55 min332 subs	3 h 41 min1,326 subs

Adjust in the calculator

Power and kit for this session

Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 16 min of run time. The Vespera II’s battery (rated about 4 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 20000mAh 30WOnly four hours inside; Vaonis specifies a 30 W PD source. C-to-C cable not included.
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Vaonis Vespera hygrometer sensorTriggers the built-in demister automatically; the correct dew accessory for the II.
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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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Everything that fits the Vespera II →

How it frames

The Carina Nebula is 120′ across. The Vespera II frames 2.55° × 1.44° at 2.39″ per pixel, so it is just over the frame at 1.4×. Point at the part you want; the edges will fall outside the frame.

Longer subs

10 s subs by default; Expert Mode manual targets allow 1 to 30 s. Alt-azimuth only, no EQ mode. Time for a solid image by sub length:

Sub length	Bortle 3	Bortle 5	Bortle 7
10 s	6 min35 subs	8 min51 subs	20 min118 subs
20 s	10 min30 subs	10 min30 subs	19 min57 subs
30 s	15 min30 subs	15 min30 subs	19 min38 subs

With and without the dual-band filter

Solid quality, default sub length.
Filter	Bortle 3	Bortle 5	Bortle 7
No filter	6 min35 subs	8 min51 subs	20 min118 subs
dual-band (Dual Band filter), clip-on	7 min44 subs	8 min49 subs	11 min69 subs

The Vespera II has no built-in dual-band filter. Optional clip-on Vaonis filters: dual-band, light-pollution (CLS) and solar; the app detects which is fitted. On an emission target like this it is the single biggest upgrade you can make.

About the Carina Nebula

Four times the size and brightness of the Orion Nebula, the best emission nebula in the sky. Southern hemisphere only, and easy from anywhere it rises.

NGC 3372, Caldwell 92, Eta Carinae Nebula · Emission nebula in Carina · magnitude 1.0 · 120′ · best in Feb, Mar, Apr. Low or below the horizon from northern Europe; best from the southern US southwards.

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 Vaonis Vespera II

A 50 mm quadruplet on an 8 MP sensor with Vaonis’s mosaic mode for wide fields. Same optics class as the Seestar S50, four times the pixels.

10 s subs by default; Expert Mode manual targets allow 1 to 30 s. Alt-azimuth only, no EQ mode. Optional clip-on Vaonis filters: dual-band, light-pollution (CLS) and solar; the app detects which is fitted.

Longer subs matter most under dark skies, where read noise rather than skyglow sets the floor. From a city the difference between 10 s and 30 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.

Where to buy the Vespera IIVaonis store Direct Amazon UK Amazon USThe Vaonis store link is a plain link; the others are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, at no cost to you.

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

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

Same target, other telescopes

All telescopes for the Carina Nebula · All targets for the Vespera II