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

About 1 h 18 min of total integration for a solid image, or 5 h 13 min for a showpiece. A quick look takes 20 min.

How many subs is that on the Seestar S50?

At the default 10 s sub length, 471 subs for a solid image from Bortle 6 and 329 from Bortle 3.

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

Yes. It is an emission-line object; from Bortle 6 the filter cuts the solid-image time from 2 h 04 min to 1 h 18 min.

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

From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the ZWO Seestar S50 needs about 1 h 18 min (471 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 20 min; a showpiece 5 h 13 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 55 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is a mix of skyglow and read noise. In this scope's field it is just over the frame at 1.4×.

Eastern 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	13 min79 subs	52 min315 subs	3 h 30 min1,260 subs
Bortle 2Typical dark site	13 min80 subs	53 min320 subs	3 h 33 min1,280 subs
Bortle 3Rural	14 min83 subs	55 min329 subs	3 h 39 min1,316 subs
Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition	15 min88 subs	58 min351 subs	3 h 54 min1,403 subs
Bortle 5Suburban	16 min97 subs	1 h 04 min386 subs	4 h 17 min1,542 subs
Bortle 6Bright suburban	20 min118 subs	1 h 18 min471 subs	5 h 13 min1,881 subs
Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition	26 min159 subs	1 h 45 min633 subs	7 h 01 min2,529 subs
Bortle 8City	37 min221 subs	2 h 27 min884 subs	9 h 49 min3,535 subs
Bortle 9Inner city	59 min355 subs	3 h 57 min1,420 subs	16 h5,679 subs

Adjust in the calculator

Power and kit for this session

Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 1 h 42 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 Eastern Veil Nebula is 60′ × 8′ across. The Seestar S50 frames 1.28° × 0.72° at 2.39″ 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, 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	55 min329 subs	1 h 04 min386 subs	1 h 45 min633 subs
20 s	40 min121 subs	50 min149 subs	1 h 31 min272 subs
30 s	35 min71 subs	45 min90 subs	1 h 26 min172 subs
60 s	30 min31 subs	40 min40 subs	1 h 21 min81 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)	47 min282 subs	1 h 18 min467 subs	3 h 32 min1,273 subs
dual-band (LP filter)	55 min329 subs	1 h 04 min386 subs	1 h 45 min633 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 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 Eastern 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 Eastern 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 Eastern Veil Nebula · All targets for the Seestar S50