How long should I image the Western Veil Nebula with the Origin from a Bortle 6 sky?

About 39 min of total integration for a solid image, or 2 h 36 min for a showpiece. A quick look takes 10 min.

How many subs is that on the Origin?

At the default 10 s sub length, 235 subs for a solid image from Bortle 6 and 78 from Bortle 3.

Does a dual-band filter help on the Western Veil Nebula?

Yes. It is an emission-line object; from Bortle 6 the filter cuts the solid-image time from 39 min to 20 min.

How long to image the Western Veil Nebula with the Celestron Origin

From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the Celestron Origin needs about 39 min (235 subs of 10 s) for a solid image of the Western Veil Nebula. A quick look takes 10 min; a showpiece 2 h 36 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 13 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×.

Western Veil Nebula with the Celestron Origin: 10 s subs.
Sky	Quick lookTarget obvious, still noisy	SolidClean enough to share	ShowpieceSmooth faint detail, print-worthy
Bortle 1Excellent dark site	3 min16 subs	10 min62 subs	41 min247 subs
Bortle 2Typical dark site	3 min17 subs	11 min67 subs	45 min268 subs
Bortle 3Rural	3 min20 subs	13 min78 subs	51 min309 subs
Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition	4 min26 subs	17 min102 subs	1 h 08 min406 subs
Bortle 5Suburban	6 min35 subs	23 min140 subs	1 h 33 min560 subs
Bortle 6Bright suburban	10 min59 subs	39 min235 subs	2 h 36 min939 subs
Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition	17 min104 subs	1 h 09 min416 subs	4 h 37 min1,661 subs
Bortle 8City	29 min174 subs	1 h 56 min696 subs	7 h 43 min2,781 subs
Bortle 9Inner city	54 min324 subs	3 h 35 min1,293 subs	14 h5,171 subs

Adjust in the calculator

Power and kit for this session

Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 51 min of run time. The Origin’s battery (rated about 6 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.)

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How it frames

The Western Veil Nebula is 70′ × 6′ across. The Origin frames 1.27° × 0.85° at 1.48″ 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 auto subs (15 s with the Nebula Filter); manual 1 to 30 s on the alt-az mount, longer only with the EQ wedge, and 60 s and up needs the StarSense Autoguider too. Time for a solid image by sub length:

Sub length	Bortle 3	Bortle 5	Bortle 7
10 s	13 min78 subs	23 min140 subs	1 h 09 min416 subs
15 s	12 min48 subs	22 min90 subs	1 h 08 min274 subs
30 s	15 min30 subs	22 min44 subs	1 h 07 min135 subs

With and without the dual-band filter

Solid quality, default sub length.
Filter	Bortle 3	Bortle 5	Bortle 7
No filter	13 min78 subs	23 min140 subs	1 h 09 min416 subs
dual-band (Nebula Filter), drawer	12 min75 subs	16 min94 subs	30 min178 subs

The Origin has no built-in dual-band filter. Filter drawer takes 1.25-inch or 2-inch filters, including dual-band; Celestron sells an optional Nebula Filter. On an emission target like this it is the single biggest upgrade you can make.

About the Western Veil Nebula

A thin, bright filament of supernova shock running through the star 52 Cygni. A dual-band filter transforms it; without one it drowns in suburban skyglow.

NGC 6960, Witch’s Broom, Caldwell 34 · Supernova remnant in Cygnus · magnitude 7.0 · 70′ × 6′ · best in Jul, Aug, Sep. Reachable from mid-northern latitudes (UK, northern US, central Europe) and from the south.

Supernova remnants are emission-line objects, strong in both hydrogen-alpha and OIII, and their filaments are thin, so pixel scale matters as much as aperture. A dual-band filter is essential from any lit sky and still helps under a dark one. These are long-integration targets; plan on several sessions and stack across nights.

About the Celestron Origin

The first-generation Origin: a 6-inch f/2.2 RASA in a smart package and the fastest system here by a wide margin. Superseded by the Mark II in late 2025 and no longer sold new; Celestron offers a camera upgrade to the Mark II sensor.

10 s auto subs (15 s with the Nebula Filter); manual 1 to 30 s on the alt-az mount, longer only with the EQ wedge, and 60 s and up needs the StarSense Autoguider too. Filter drawer takes 1.25-inch or 2-inch filters, including dual-band; Celestron sells an optional Nebula Filter.

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.

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Imaged the Western Veil Nebula with your Origin? Did the solid figure match?Anonymous, one tap. It is how the model gets calibrated.

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

Same target, other telescopes

All telescopes for the Western Veil Nebula · All targets for the Origin