How long to image the Turtle Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF II
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the DwarfLab DWARF II needs about 40 min (162 subs of 15 s) for a solid image of the Turtle Nebula. A quick look takes 10 min; a showpiece 2 h 41 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 24 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it is small in the frame, about 6 pixels across.
| Sky | Quick lookTarget obvious, still noisy | SolidClean enough to share | ShowpieceSmooth faint detail, print-worthy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bortle 1Excellent dark site | 6 min23 subs | 23 min92 subs | 1 h 31 min366 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 6 min24 subs | 23 min94 subs | 1 h 34 min375 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 6 min25 subs | 24 min98 subs | 1 h 38 min391 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 7 min27 subs | 27 min108 subs | 1 h 47 min430 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 8 min31 subs | 31 min124 subs | 2 h 03 min493 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 10 min41 subs | 40 min162 subs | 2 h 41 min646 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 15 min59 subs | 59 min235 subs | 3 h 54 min938 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 22 min87 subs | 1 h 27 min348 subs | 5 h 48 min1,391 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 37 min148 subs | 2 h 27 min590 subs | 9 h 49 min2,358 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 52 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 Turtle Nebula is 0.3′ across. The DWARF II frames 3.19° × 1.79° at 2.99″ per pixel, so it is small in the frame, about 6 pixels across. It is worth doing, but the result is a crop rather than a full frame; a longer focal length would resolve more of it.
Filters
The Turtle 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 Turtle Nebula
A tiny, very bright planetary in Hercules. A blue-green star-like blob in a smart scope, but an easy catch.
NGC 6210 · Planetary nebula in Hercules · magnitude 9.0 · 0.3′ · best in May, Jun, Jul. Reachable from mid-northern latitudes (UK, northern US, central Europe) and from the south.
Planetary nebulae are small but intensely bright per pixel in OIII and H-alpha, so they respond very well to a dual-band filter and do not need much time for the main shell. The faint outer halos most of them have are a different proposition and need hours. Keep subs short if the central region saturates.
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 Turtle 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
- Turtle Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50: 10 min from Bortle 6
- Turtle Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 11 min from Bortle 6
- Turtle Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30: 11 min from Bortle 6
- Turtle Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 12 min from Bortle 6
- Turtle Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 14 min from Bortle 6
- Turtle Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 10 min from Bortle 6
- Turtle Nebula with the DwarfLab Draco: 15 min from Bortle 6
- Turtle Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera II: 12 min from Bortle 6
- Turtle Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 27 min from Bortle 6
- Turtle Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 12 min from Bortle 6
- Turtle Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 26 min from Bortle 6
- Turtle Nebula with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 10 min from Bortle 6
- Turtle Nebula with the Unistellar Odyssey: 46 min from Bortle 6
- Turtle Nebula with the Celestron Origin: 5 min from Bortle 6
- Turtle Nebula with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 5 min from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the Turtle Nebula · All targets for the DWARF II