How long to image the Western Veil Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF II
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the DwarfLab DWARF II needs about 8 h 29 min (2,035 subs of 15 s) for a solid image of the Western Veil Nebula. A quick look takes 2 h 07 min; a showpiece 34 h. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 4 h 11 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it fills 65% 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 | 57 min227 subs | 3 h 46 min905 subs | 15 h3,620 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 59 min235 subs | 3 h 55 min940 subs | 16 h3,759 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 1 h 03 min252 subs | 4 h 11 min1,006 subs | 17 h4,021 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 1 h 13 min292 subs | 4 h 51 min1,165 subs | 19 h4,657 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 1 h 29 min355 subs | 5 h 54 min1,417 subs | 24 h5,665 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 2 h 07 min509 subs | 8 h 29 min2,035 subs | 34 h8,137 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 3 h 21 min803 subs | 13 h3,212 subs | 54 h12,847 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 5 h 15 min1,261 subs | 21 h5,041 subs | 84 h20,161 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 9 h 19 min2,235 subs | 37 h8,940 subs | 150+ h35,759 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 11 h of run time. That is more than one night: over 2 nights, about 5 h 31 min each. The DWARF II’s battery is rated at about 3 h, so each night 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 Western Veil Nebula is 70′ × 6′ across. The DWARF II frames 3.19° × 1.79° at 2.99″ per pixel, so it fills 65% of the frame’s short side.
Filters
The Western Veil 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 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 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 Western Veil 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
- Western Veil Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50: 1 h 33 min from Bortle 6
- Western Veil Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 1 h 44 min from Bortle 6
- Western Veil Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30: 1 h 48 min from Bortle 6
- Western Veil Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 1 h 52 min from Bortle 6
- Western Veil Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 1 h 55 min from Bortle 6
- Western Veil Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 1 h 31 min from Bortle 6
- Western Veil Nebula with the DwarfLab Draco: 1 h 13 min from Bortle 6
- Western Veil Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera II: 2 h 28 min from Bortle 6
- Western Veil Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 5 h 32 min from Bortle 6
- Western Veil Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 2 h 21 min from Bortle 6
- Western Veil Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 5 h 16 min from Bortle 6
- Western Veil Nebula with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 2 h 15 min from Bortle 6
- Western Veil Nebula with the Unistellar Odyssey: 10 h from Bortle 6
- Western Veil Nebula with the Celestron Origin: 39 min from Bortle 6
- Western Veil Nebula with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 54 min from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the Western Veil Nebula · All targets for the DWARF II