How long to image the North America Nebula with the DwarfLab Draco
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the DwarfLab Draco needs about 1 h 08 min (136 subs of 30 s with the built-in dual-narrowband (Hα + OIII) filter) for a solid image of the North America Nebula. A quick look takes 17 min; a showpiece 4 h 30 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 46 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.
| Sky | Quick lookTarget obvious, still noisy | SolidClean enough to share | ShowpieceSmooth faint detail, print-worthy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bortle 1Excellent dark site | 11 min22 subs | 44 min88 subs | 2 h 55 min351 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 11 min23 subs | 45 min90 subs | 2 h 58 min357 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 11 min23 subs | 46 min92 subs | 3 h 04 min368 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 12 min25 subs | 49 min99 subs | 3 h 17 min395 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 14 min28 subs | 55 min110 subs | 3 h 38 min437 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 17 min34 subs | 1 h 08 min136 subs | 4 h 30 min541 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 23 min47 subs | 1 h 32 min185 subs | 6 h 09 min738 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 33 min66 subs | 2 h 10 min261 subs | 8 h 42 min1,044 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 53 min107 subs | 3 h 32 min425 subs | 14 h1,698 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 1 h 28 min of run time. The Draco’s battery (rated about 5 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 PD power bank 20000mAhRated 5 h on its 10,000 mAh battery. DwarfLab has not published the charging input, so check PD support before relying on it mid-session.
- 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 North America Nebula is 120′ × 100′ across. The Draco frames 1.66° × 1.24° at 1.46″ 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
Auto Mode picks the exposure; Pro Mode allows up to 300 s, held by built-in guiding and field derotation. The 30 s default here is our assumption. Time for a solid image by sub length:
| Sub length | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 s | 46 min92 subs | 55 min110 subs | 1 h 32 min185 subs |
| 60 s | 34 min34 subs | 42 min43 subs | 1 h 20 min81 subs |
| 120 s | 1 h30 subs | 1 h30 subs | 1 h 14 min38 subs |
| 300 s | 2 h 30 min30 subs | 2 h 30 min30 subs | 2 h 30 min30 subs |
With and without the dual-band filter
| Filter | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No filter | 41 min82 subs | 1 h 09 min138 subs | 3 h 12 min384 subs |
| dual-narrowband (Hα + OIII) | 46 min92 subs | 55 min110 subs | 1 h 32 min185 subs |
About the North America Nebula
A huge emission cloud next to Deneb shaped like the continent. The Cygnus Wall is the bright bit; a dual-band filter and a wide field make it one of the best summer targets from town.
NGC 7000, Caldwell 20 · Emission nebula in Cygnus · magnitude 4.0 · 120′ × 100′ · best in Jul, Aug, Sep. Reachable from mid-northern latitudes (UK, northern US, central Europe) and from the south.
Emission nebulae glow in a few narrow lines, mostly hydrogen-alpha (deep red) and doubly ionised oxygen (teal). A dual-band filter passes those lines and blocks most skyglow, which is why it cuts the time needed from a suburban sky so dramatically. Use it. From a genuinely dark site the gain is smaller because there is less skyglow to block, and read noise becomes the limit, which is where longer subs (EQ mode, or Expert Mode on a Vespera) earn their keep.
Stars lose colour through a dual-band filter; a short broadband stack blended in fixes that if you care.
About the DwarfLab Draco
DwarfLab’s big scope: 90 mm of folded f/3.8 optics, the most aperture of any Seestar or DWARF, a narrow 13 nm dual-band filter and 300 s subs with built-in guiding. A small-target scope; big nebulae need its mosaic mode.
Auto Mode picks the exposure; Pro Mode allows up to 300 s, held by built-in guiding and field derotation. The 30 s default here is our assumption. Built-in Hα + OIII dual-narrowband filter, 13 nm per line; the SHO Edition adds an SII option.
Longer subs matter most under dark skies, where read noise rather than skyglow sets the floor. From a city the difference between 30 s and 300 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 North America Nebula from a Draco? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.
Same target, other telescopes
- North America Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50: 1 h 25 min from Bortle 6
- North America Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 1 h 36 min from Bortle 6
- North America Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30: 1 h 39 min from Bortle 6
- North America Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 1 h 43 min from Bortle 6
- North America Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 1 h 46 min from Bortle 6
- North America Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 1 h 24 min from Bortle 6
- North America Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF II: 7 h 45 min from Bortle 6
- North America Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera II: 2 h 15 min from Bortle 6
- North America Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 5 h 04 min from Bortle 6
- North America Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 2 h 09 min from Bortle 6
- North America Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 4 h 49 min from Bortle 6
- North America Nebula with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 2 h 04 min from Bortle 6
- North America Nebula with the Unistellar Odyssey: 9 h 33 min from Bortle 6
- North America Nebula with the Celestron Origin: 36 min from Bortle 6
- North America Nebula with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 49 min from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the North America Nebula · All targets for the Draco