How long should I image the Tulip Nebula with the Origin Mark II from a Bortle 6 sky?

About 1 h 24 min of total integration for a solid image, or 5 h 34 min for a showpiece. A quick look takes 21 min.

How many subs is that on the Origin Mark II?

At the default 10 s sub length, 502 subs for a solid image from Bortle 6 and 142 from Bortle 3.

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

Yes. It is an emission-line object; from Bortle 6 the filter cuts the solid-image time from 1 h 24 min to 36 min.

How long to image the Tulip Nebula with the Celestron Origin Mark II

From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the Celestron Origin Mark II needs about 1 h 24 min (502 subs of 10 s) for a solid image of the Tulip Nebula. A quick look takes 21 min; a showpiece 5 h 34 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 24 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 36% of the frame’s short side.

Tulip Nebula with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 10 s subs.
Sky	Quick lookTarget obvious, still noisy	SolidClean enough to share	ShowpieceSmooth faint detail, print-worthy
Bortle 1Excellent dark site	4 min27 subs	18 min107 subs	1 h 11 min428 subs
Bortle 2Typical dark site	5 min30 subs	20 min119 subs	1 h 19 min476 subs
Bortle 3Rural	6 min36 subs	24 min142 subs	1 h 35 min568 subs
Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition	8 min50 subs	33 min198 subs	2 h 12 min790 subs
Bortle 5Suburban	12 min72 subs	48 min286 subs	3 h 10 min1,142 subs
Bortle 6Bright suburban	21 min126 subs	1 h 24 min502 subs	5 h 34 min2,007 subs
Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition	38 min229 subs	2 h 32 min914 subs	10 h3,654 subs
Bortle 8City	1 h 05 min389 subs	4 h 19 min1,553 subs	17 h6,211 subs
Bortle 9Inner city	2 h 01 min729 subs	8 h 06 min2,916 subs	32 h11,664 subs

Adjust in the calculator

Power and kit for this session

Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 1 h 49 min of run time. The Origin Mark II’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.)

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How it frames

The Tulip Nebula is 16′ × 9′ across. The Origin Mark II frames 1.32° × 0.75° at 1.23″ per pixel, so it fills 36% of the frame’s short side.

Longer subs

10 s auto subs (15 s with the Nebula Filter); manual 1 to 30 s on the alt-az mount, longer only with the EQ wedge, and 60 s and up needs the StarSense Autoguider too. Celestron warns the f/2.2 optics saturate quickly without the filter. Time for a solid image by sub length:

Sub length	Bortle 3	Bortle 5	Bortle 7
10 s	24 min142 subs	48 min286 subs	2 h 32 min914 subs
15 s	23 min93 subs	47 min189 subs	2 h 32 min607 subs
30 s	23 min46 subs	46 min93 subs	2 h 31 min303 subs

With and without the dual-band filter

Solid quality, default sub length.
Filter	Bortle 3	Bortle 5	Bortle 7
No filter	24 min142 subs	48 min286 subs	2 h 32 min914 subs
dual-band (Nebula Filter), drawer	18 min106 subs	25 min150 subs	57 min342 subs

The Origin Mark II has no built-in dual-band filter. Filter drawer takes 1.25-inch or 2-inch filters, including dual-band; Celestron sells an optional Nebula Filter. On an emission target like this it is the single biggest upgrade you can make.

About the Tulip Nebula

A compact hydrogen bloom in Cygnus near the black hole Cygnus X-1. Small and moderately faint; dual-band.

Sh2-101 · Emission nebula in Cygnus · magnitude 9.0 · 16′ × 9′ · 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 Celestron Origin Mark II

The Origin Mark II (late 2025): the same 6-inch f/2.2 RASA with an 8 MP IMX678 in place of the original 6 MP IMX178. Smaller pixels for finer detail, a quieter sensor, and still the fastest system here by a wide margin.

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 Origin Mark IICelestron store Direct Amazon UK Amazon USThe Celestron 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 Tulip Nebula with your Origin Mark II? Did the solid figure match?Anonymous, one tap. It is how the model gets calibrated.

Have an image of the Tulip Nebula from a Origin Mark II? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.

Same target, other telescopes

All telescopes for the Tulip Nebula · All targets for the Origin Mark II