How long to image the Eastern Veil Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the ZWO Seestar S30 needs about 1 h 31 min (548 subs of 10 s with the built-in dual-band (LP filter) filter) for a solid image of the Eastern Veil Nebula. A quick look takes 23 min; a showpiece 6 h 05 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 1 h 08 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it fills 84% 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 | 16 min99 subs | 1 h 05 min393 subs | 4 h 22 min1,571 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 17 min100 subs | 1 h 06 min398 subs | 4 h 25 min1,590 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 17 min102 subs | 1 h 08 min407 subs | 4 h 31 min1,626 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 18 min108 subs | 1 h 11 min429 subs | 4 h 46 min1,714 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 19 min116 subs | 1 h 17 min463 subs | 5 h 09 min1,852 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 23 min137 subs | 1 h 31 min548 subs | 6 h 05 min2,192 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 30 min178 subs | 1 h 58 min710 subs | 7 h 53 min2,840 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 40 min241 subs | 2 h 40 min962 subs | 11 h3,845 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 1 h 02 min375 subs | 4 h 10 min1,498 subs | 17 h5,990 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 1 h 59 min of run time. The Seestar S30’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 10000mAh 5V 3A6,000 mAh inside; a 10,000 mAh 5 V 3 A bank roughly doubles a session.
- Seestar S30 dew shieldHeater is built in; a cheap shield reduces dew and stray light.
- 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 Eastern Veil Nebula is 60′ × 8′ across. The Seestar S30 frames 2.13° × 1.20° at 3.99″ per pixel, so it fills 84% of the frame’s short side.
Longer subs
10, 20 and 30 s in Alt-Az; 60 s only in EQ mode, which needs the TH10 head. Time for a solid image by sub length:
| Sub length | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 s | 1 h 08 min407 subs | 1 h 17 min463 subs | 1 h 58 min710 subs |
| 20 s | 47 min140 subs | 56 min168 subs | 1 h 37 min292 subs |
| 30 s | 40 min80 subs | 49 min98 subs | 1 h 30 min181 subs |
| 60 s | 32 min33 subs | 42 min42 subs | 1 h 23 min84 subs |
With and without the dual-band filter
| Filter | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| UV/IR-cut (no light-pollution filter) | 53 min320 subs | 1 h 24 min505 subs | 3 h 38 min1,311 subs |
| dual-band (LP filter) | 1 h 08 min407 subs | 1 h 17 min463 subs | 1 h 58 min710 subs |
About the Eastern Veil Nebula
The brighter, more detailed arc of the Veil. Red hydrogen and teal oxygen filaments interleave; dual-band captures both.
NGC 6992, NGC 6995, Caldwell 33 · Supernova remnant in Cygnus · magnitude 7.0 · 60′ × 8′ · 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 S30
Wider and lighter than the S50 with the same 2.9 µm pixels, so its per-pixel speed on extended targets is close despite the smaller aperture. Ideal for big nebulae.
10, 20 and 30 s in Alt-Az; 60 s only in EQ mode, which needs the TH10 head. Built-in UV/IR-cut, dual-band (OIII 30 nm / Hα 20 nm) and dark filters.
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.
Have an image of the Eastern Veil Nebula from a Seestar S30? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.
Same target, other telescopes
- Eastern Veil Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50: 1 h 18 min from Bortle 6
- Eastern Veil Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 1 h 28 min from Bortle 6
- Eastern Veil Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 1 h 35 min from Bortle 6
- Eastern Veil Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 1 h 37 min from Bortle 6
- Eastern Veil Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 1 h 17 min from Bortle 6
- Eastern Veil Nebula with the DwarfLab Draco: 1 h 02 min from Bortle 6
- Eastern Veil Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF II: 7 h 05 min from Bortle 6
- Eastern Veil Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera II: 2 h 04 min from Bortle 6
- Eastern Veil Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 4 h 38 min from Bortle 6
- Eastern Veil Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 1 h 58 min from Bortle 6
- Eastern Veil Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 4 h 25 min from Bortle 6
- Eastern Veil Nebula with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 1 h 53 min from Bortle 6
- Eastern Veil Nebula with the Unistellar Odyssey: 8 h 43 min from Bortle 6
- Eastern Veil Nebula with the Celestron Origin: 33 min from Bortle 6
- Eastern Veil Nebula with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 45 min from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the Eastern Veil Nebula · All targets for the Seestar S30