How long should I image the North America Nebula with the Vespera Pro from a Bortle 6 sky?

About 5 h 04 min of total integration for a solid image, or 20 h for a showpiece. A quick look takes 1 h 16 min.

How many subs is that on the Vespera Pro?

At the default 10 s sub length, 1,822 subs for a solid image from Bortle 6 and 757 from Bortle 3.

Does a dual-band filter help on the North America Nebula?

Yes. It is an emission-line object; from Bortle 6 the filter cuts the solid-image time from 5 h 04 min to 3 h 38 min.

How long to image the North America Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro

From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the Vaonis Vespera Pro needs about 5 h 04 min (1,822 subs of 10 s) for a solid image of the North America Nebula. A quick look takes 1 h 16 min; a showpiece 20 h. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 2 h 06 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is skyglow, so a darker site or a filter helps more than longer subs. In this scope's field it is just over the frame at 1.2×.

North America Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 10 s subs.
Sky	Quick lookTarget obvious, still noisy	SolidClean enough to share	ShowpieceSmooth faint detail, print-worthy
Bortle 1Excellent dark site	27 min164 subs	1 h 49 min653 subs	7 h 15 min2,610 subs
Bortle 2Typical dark site	29 min173 subs	1 h 55 min689 subs	7 h 39 min2,753 subs
Bortle 3Rural	32 min190 subs	2 h 06 min757 subs	8 h 24 min3,025 subs
Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition	38 min231 subs	2 h 33 min921 subs	10 h3,683 subs
Bortle 5Suburban	49 min296 subs	3 h 17 min1,182 subs	13 h4,727 subs
Bortle 6Bright suburban	1 h 16 min456 subs	5 h 04 min1,822 subs	20 h7,287 subs
Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition	2 h 07 min761 subs	8 h 27 min3,041 subs	34 h12,164 subs
Bortle 8City	3 h 26 min1,234 subs	14 h4,935 subs	55 h19,737 subs
Bortle 9Inner city	6 h 14 min2,243 subs	25 h8,972 subs	100 h35,888 subs

Adjust in the calculator

Power and kit for this session

Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 6 h 35 min of run time. The Vespera Pro’s battery (rated about 11 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 20000mAh 30WExtends the 11 h battery; 30 W PD per Vaonis.
Amazon UK Amazon US
red LED head torchRed light keeps your night vision; white light costs you twenty minutes of dark adaptation every time.
Amazon UK Amazon US

Affiliate links: the retailer pays us a small commission and you pay the same price. These are search links to the named product, not endorsements of a particular listing; check the listing matches your model.

Everything that fits the Vespera Pro →

How it frames

The North America Nebula is 120′ × 100′ across. The Vespera Pro frames 1.62° × 1.62° at 1.65″ per pixel, so it is just over the frame at 1.2×. Point at the part you want; the edges will fall outside the frame.

Longer subs

10 s subs by default; Expert Mode manual targets allow 1 to 30 s. Alt-azimuth only, no EQ mode. Time for a solid image by sub length:

Sub length	Bortle 3	Bortle 5	Bortle 7
10 s	2 h 06 min757 subs	3 h 17 min1,182 subs	8 h 27 min3,041 subs
20 s	1 h 44 min312 subs	2 h 55 min524 subs	8 h 04 min1,454 subs
30 s	1 h 36 min193 subs	2 h 47 min335 subs	7 h 57 min955 subs

With and without the dual-band filter

Solid quality, default sub length.
Filter	Bortle 3	Bortle 5	Bortle 7
No filter	2 h 06 min757 subs	3 h 17 min1,182 subs	8 h 27 min3,041 subs
dual-band (Dual Band filter), clip-on	2 h 43 min980 subs	3 h 05 min1,111 subs	4 h 40 min1,680 subs

The Vespera Pro has no built-in dual-band filter. Optional clip-on Vaonis filters: dual-band, light-pollution (CLS) and solar. On an emission target like this it is the single biggest upgrade you can make.

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 Vaonis Vespera Pro

The square-sensor Vespera with 2 µm pixels. Higher resolution than the II, and correspondingly slower per pixel: expect around double the time for the same per-pixel SNR. Run-out in 2026 and replaced by the Vespera Pro 2.

10 s subs by default; Expert Mode manual targets allow 1 to 30 s. Alt-azimuth only, no EQ mode. Optional clip-on Vaonis filters: dual-band, light-pollution (CLS) and solar.

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 30 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 Vespera ProAmazon UK Amazon USAffiliate links: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, at no cost to you.

Imaged the North America Nebula with your Vespera Pro? Did the solid figure match?Anonymous, one tap. It is how the model gets calibrated.

Have an image of the North America Nebula from a Vespera Pro? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.

Same target, other telescopes

All telescopes for the North America Nebula · All targets for the Vespera Pro