How long to image the Needle Galaxy with the DwarfLab DWARF II
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the DwarfLab DWARF II needs about 3 h 45 min (900 subs of 15 s) for a solid image of the Needle Galaxy. A quick look takes 56 min; a showpiece 15 h. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 1 h 54 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it fills 15% 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 | 26 min104 subs | 1 h 44 min415 subs | 6 h 54 min1,658 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 27 min108 subs | 1 h 47 min430 subs | 7 h 09 min1,718 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 29 min115 subs | 1 h 54 min458 subs | 7 h 37 min1,830 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 33 min132 subs | 2 h 11 min526 subs | 8 h 46 min2,103 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 40 min159 subs | 2 h 38 min634 subs | 11 h2,536 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 56 min225 subs | 3 h 45 min900 subs | 15 h3,598 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 1 h 28 min352 subs | 5 h 51 min1,406 subs | 23 h5,622 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 2 h 17 min548 subs | 9 h 08 min2,191 subs | 37 h8,764 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 4 h 02 min967 subs | 16 h3,867 subs | 64 h15,465 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 4 h 52 min of run time. The DWARF II’s battery is rated at about 3 h, so the session 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 Needle Galaxy is 16′ × 2′ across. The DWARF II frames 3.19° × 1.79° at 2.99″ per pixel, so it fills 15% of the frame’s short side.
About the Needle Galaxy
The finest edge-on spiral in the northern sky, a thin needle with a central bulge and dust lane.
NGC 4565, Caldwell 38 · Galaxy in Coma Berenices · magnitude 9.6 · 16′ × 2′ · best in Mar, Apr, May. 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 Needle 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
- Needle Galaxy with the ZWO Seestar S50: 1 h 06 min from Bortle 6
- Needle Galaxy with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 1 h 12 min from Bortle 6
- Needle Galaxy with the ZWO Seestar S30: 1 h 09 min from Bortle 6
- Needle Galaxy with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 1 h 16 min from Bortle 6
- Needle Galaxy with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 1 h 36 min from Bortle 6
- Needle Galaxy with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 1 h 06 min from Bortle 6
- Needle Galaxy with the DwarfLab Draco: 54 min from Bortle 6
- Needle Galaxy with the Vaonis Vespera II: 1 h 06 min from Bortle 6
- Needle Galaxy with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 2 h 27 min from Bortle 6
- Needle Galaxy with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 1 h 03 min from Bortle 6
- Needle Galaxy with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 2 h 21 min from Bortle 6
- Needle Galaxy with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 1 h from Bortle 6
- Needle Galaxy with the Unistellar Odyssey: 4 h 35 min from Bortle 6
- Needle Galaxy with the Celestron Origin: 17 min from Bortle 6
- Needle Galaxy with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 24 min from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the Needle Galaxy · All targets for the DWARF II