How long to image the Omega Centauri with the Unistellar eQuinox 2
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the Unistellar eQuinox 2 needs about 2 min (30 subs of 4 s) for a solid image of the Omega Centauri. A quick look takes < 1 min; a showpiece 7 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 2 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it is just over the frame at 1.1×.
| Sky | Quick lookTarget obvious, still noisy | SolidClean enough to share | ShowpieceSmooth faint detail, print-worthy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bortle 1Excellent dark site | < 1 min10 subs | 2 min30 subs | 6 min90 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | < 1 min10 subs | 2 min30 subs | 6 min90 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | < 1 min10 subs | 2 min30 subs | 6 min90 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | < 1 min10 subs | 2 min30 subs | 6 min90 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | < 1 min10 subs | 2 min30 subs | 6 min90 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | < 1 min10 subs | 2 min30 subs | 7 min101 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | < 1 min10 subs | 2 min34 subs | 9 min135 subs |
| Bortle 8City | < 1 min12 subs | 3 min47 subs | 12 min187 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 1 min19 subs | 5 min75 subs | 20 min298 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 3 min of run time. The eQuinox 2’s battery (rated about 11 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 power bank 20000mAh 5V 2AUnistellar asks for a 5 V 2 A output; PD is not needed.
- 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 eQuinox 2 →
How it frames
The Omega Centauri is 36′ across. The eQuinox 2 frames 0.76° × 0.57° at 1.33″ per pixel, so it is just over the frame at 1.1×. Point at the part you want; the edges will fall outside the frame.
About the Omega Centauri
The largest and brightest globular in the sky, ten million stars. Trivially easy from the southern hemisphere, invisible from the UK.
NGC 5139, Caldwell 80 · Globular cluster in Centaurus · magnitude 3.7 · 36′ · best in Mar, Apr, May. Low or below the horizon from northern Europe; best from the southern US southwards.
Globular clusters are point sources packed tight, so they come quickly: the core resolves into stars within a handful of minutes on any smart scope. More time deepens the halo and pulls in the faint outer members. Use short subs so the core does not saturate into a white blob, and no filter.
About the Unistellar eQuinox 2
A 114 mm Newtonian with five times the light grasp of a 50 mm refractor. Fixed 4 s subs put it in read-noise territory under dark skies, but the aperture carries it. The published field is 45.6′ × 34.2′, a crop of the sensor.
Fixed 4 s subs in Enhanced Vision; they cannot be changed. No built-in filter. Unistellar sells only a solar filter and says a third-party filter is at your own risk and voids the warranty.
The eQuinox 2 uses fixed 4 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 Omega Centauri from a eQuinox 2? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.
Same target, other telescopes
- Omega Centauri with the ZWO Seestar S50: 5 min from Bortle 6
- Omega Centauri with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 5 min from Bortle 6
- Omega Centauri with the ZWO Seestar S30: 5 min from Bortle 6
- Omega Centauri with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 5 min from Bortle 6
- Omega Centauri with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 8 min from Bortle 6
- Omega Centauri with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 8 min from Bortle 6
- Omega Centauri with the DwarfLab Draco: 15 min from Bortle 6
- Omega Centauri with the DwarfLab DWARF II: 8 min from Bortle 6
- Omega Centauri with the Vaonis Vespera II: 5 min from Bortle 6
- Omega Centauri with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 5 min from Bortle 6
- Omega Centauri with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 5 min from Bortle 6
- Omega Centauri with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 5 min from Bortle 6
- Omega Centauri with the Unistellar Odyssey: 7 min from Bortle 6
- Omega Centauri with the Celestron Origin: 5 min from Bortle 6
- Omega Centauri with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 5 min from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the Omega Centauri · All targets for the eQuinox 2