How long should I image the Wizard Nebula with the Vespera Pro 2 from a Bortle 6 sky?

About 8 h 15 min of total integration for a solid image, or 33 h for a showpiece. A quick look takes 2 h 04 min.

How many subs is that on the Vespera Pro 2?

At the default 10 s sub length, 2,968 subs for a solid image from Bortle 6 and 1,190 from Bortle 3.

Does a dual-band filter help on the Wizard Nebula?

Yes. It is an emission-line object; from Bortle 6 the filter cuts the solid-image time from 8 h 15 min to 5 h 44 min.

How long to image the Wizard Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2

From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2 needs about 8 h 15 min (2,968 subs of 10 s) for a solid image of the Wizard Nebula. A quick look takes 2 h 04 min; a showpiece 33 h. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 3 h 18 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 fills 25% of the frame’s short side.

Wizard Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 10 s subs.
Sky	Quick lookTarget obvious, still noisy	SolidClean enough to share	ShowpieceSmooth faint detail, print-worthy
Bortle 1Excellent dark site	42 min254 subs	2 h 49 min1,016 subs	11 h4,064 subs
Bortle 2Typical dark site	45 min269 subs	2 h 59 min1,076 subs	12 h4,304 subs
Bortle 3Rural	50 min298 subs	3 h 18 min1,190 subs	13 h4,758 subs
Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition	1 h 01 min366 subs	4 h 04 min1,464 subs	16 h5,856 subs
Bortle 5Suburban	1 h 19 min475 subs	5 h 17 min1,900 subs	21 h7,598 subs
Bortle 6Bright suburban	2 h 04 min742 subs	8 h 15 min2,968 subs	33 h11,870 subs
Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition	3 h 28 min1,251 subs	14 h5,003 subs	56 h20,010 subs
Bortle 8City	5 h 40 min2,041 subs	23 h8,163 subs	91 h32,650 subs
Bortle 9Inner city	10 h3,726 subs	41 h14,902 subs	170+ h59,605 subs

Adjust in the calculator

Power and kit for this session

Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 11 h of run time. That is more than one night: over 2 nights, about 5 h 21 min each. The Vespera Pro 2’s battery (rated about 11 h) should cover each night; 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 30WExternal bank extends the 11 h battery.
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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 Wizard Nebula is 25′ across. The Vespera Pro 2 frames 1.65° × 1.65° at 1.68″ per pixel, so it fills 25% of the frame’s short side.

Longer subs

10 s subs by default; Expert Mode manual targets allow 1 to 30 s. Alt-azimuth only; CovalENS mosaic gives 3.2° × 3.2° at 50 MP. Time for a solid image by sub length:

Sub length	Bortle 3	Bortle 5	Bortle 7
10 s	3 h 18 min1,190 subs	5 h 17 min1,900 subs	14 h5,003 subs
20 s	2 h 42 min488 subs	4 h 41 min843 subs	13 h2,394 subs
30 s	2 h 30 min301 subs	4 h 29 min538 subs	13 h1,572 subs

With and without the dual-band filter

Solid quality, default sub length.
Filter	Bortle 3	Bortle 5	Bortle 7
No filter	3 h 18 min1,190 subs	5 h 17 min1,900 subs	14 h5,003 subs
dual-band (Dual Band filter), clip-on	4 h 13 min1,518 subs	4 h 49 min1,735 subs	7 h 27 min2,685 subs

The Vespera Pro 2 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 Wizard Nebula

A cluster inside a hydrogen cloud with a wizard's silhouette. Medium brightness, good in dual-band, high in the autumn sky.

NGC 7380, Sh2-142 · Emission nebula in Cepheus · magnitude 7.2 · 25′ · best in Aug, Sep, Oct. 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 2

The square-sensor 2026 Vespera with 2 µm pixels. Sharper than the Vespera 3 on small targets and correspondingly slower per pixel; the 12.5 MP square frame suits galaxies and planetaries.

10 s subs by default; Expert Mode manual targets allow 1 to 30 s. Alt-azimuth only; CovalENS mosaic gives 3.2° × 3.2° at 50 MP. 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 Pro 2Vaonis store Direct Amazon UK Amazon USThe Vaonis 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 Wizard Nebula with your Vespera Pro 2? Did the solid figure match?Anonymous, one tap. It is how the model gets calibrated.

Have an image of the Wizard Nebula from a Vespera Pro 2? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.

Same target, other telescopes

All telescopes for the Wizard Nebula · All targets for the Vespera Pro 2