How long should I image the Western Veil Nebula with the Seestar S50 from a Bortle 6 sky?

About 1 h 33 min of total integration for a solid image, or 6 h 11 min for a showpiece. A quick look takes 23 min.

How many subs is that on the Seestar S50?

At the default 10 s sub length, 557 subs for a solid image from Bortle 6 and 387 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 2 h 28 min to 1 h 33 min.

How long to image the Western Veil Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50

From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the ZWO Seestar S50 needs about 1 h 33 min (557 subs of 10 s with the built-in dual-band (LP filter) filter) for a solid image of the Western Veil Nebula. A quick look takes 23 min; a showpiece 6 h 11 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 1 h 04 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it is 1.6× wider than the frame.

Western Veil Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50: 10 s subs with the built-in dual-band (LP filter) filter.
Sky	Quick lookTarget obvious, still noisy	SolidClean enough to share	ShowpieceSmooth faint detail, print-worthy
Bortle 1Excellent dark site	15 min93 subs	1 h 02 min371 subs	4 h 07 min1,482 subs
Bortle 2Typical dark site	16 min94 subs	1 h 03 min376 subs	4 h 11 min1,504 subs
Bortle 3Rural	16 min97 subs	1 h 04 min387 subs	4 h 18 min1,548 subs
Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition	17 min104 subs	1 h 09 min414 subs	4 h 35 min1,653 subs
Bortle 5Suburban	19 min114 subs	1 h 16 min455 subs	5 h 03 min1,820 subs
Bortle 6Bright suburban	23 min140 subs	1 h 33 min557 subs	6 h 11 min2,228 subs
Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition	31 min188 subs	2 h 05 min752 subs	8 h 21 min3,007 subs
Bortle 8City	44 min264 subs	2 h 56 min1,054 subs	12 h4,216 subs
Bortle 9Inner city	1 h 11 min425 subs	4 h 43 min1,699 subs	19 h6,794 subs

Adjust in the calculator

Power and kit for this session

Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 2 h 01 min of run time. The Seestar S50’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.)

USB-C power bank 20000mAh 5V 3AThe S50 draws 5 V 3 A over USB-C and runs while charging; no PD needed.
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Seestar S50 dew shieldThe built-in heater copes with most nights; a shield helps in heavy dew and blocks stray light.
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red LED head torchRed light keeps your night vision; white light costs you twenty minutes of dark adaptation every time.
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How it frames

The Western Veil Nebula is 70′ × 6′ across. The Seestar S50 frames 1.28° × 0.72° at 2.39″ per pixel, so it is 1.6× wider than the frame. A mosaic, or choosing the part you want and letting the rest go, is how it gets shot on this scope.

Longer subs

10, 20 and 30 s in Alt-Az; 60 s only in EQ mode (app 2.5 and later). Time for a solid image by sub length:

Sub length	Bortle 3	Bortle 5	Bortle 7
10 s	1 h 04 min387 subs	1 h 16 min455 subs	2 h 05 min752 subs
20 s	47 min141 subs	58 min175 subs	1 h 48 min323 subs
30 s	41 min82 subs	52 min105 subs	1 h 42 min204 subs
60 s	35 min36 subs	46 min47 subs	1 h 36 min96 subs

With and without the dual-band filter

Solid quality, default sub length.
Filter	Bortle 3	Bortle 5	Bortle 7
UV/IR-cut (no light-pollution filter)	55 min333 subs	1 h 32 min555 subs	4 h 14 min1,525 subs
dual-band (LP filter)	1 h 04 min387 subs	1 h 16 min455 subs	2 h 05 min752 subs

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 ZWO Seestar S50

The scope that made smart astrophotography mainstream. 50 mm triplet, 2 MP sensor, dual-band filter on a wheel. Alt-Az stacking at 10 s, EQ mode unlocks 60 s. Out of production since 2026 and replaced by the S50 Pro, but there are a great many in use.

10, 20 and 30 s in Alt-Az; 60 s only in EQ mode (app 2.5 and later). Built-in dual-band light-pollution filter, switchable in the app.

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 60 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.

Where to buy the Seestar S50ZWO store Direct Amazon UK Amazon USThe ZWO store link is a plain link; the others are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, at no cost to you.

Imaged the Western Veil Nebula with your Seestar S50? 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 Seestar S50? 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 Seestar S50