Pixel Skies Astro

26/10/2026

The Cocoon Nebula (IC 5146) captured from the dark skies of Castillejar

The Cocoon Nebula is a beautiful cloud of gas and dust located around 4,000 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus.

At its centre is a young cluster of stars illuminating the surrounding gas, creating the pink and red glow. The bluish areas come from starlight reflecting off nearby dust.

What I find particularly fascinating is the huge amount of dark interstellar dust surrounding the nebula, which is normally very difficult to see.

This image was captured using my Celestron EdgeHD 8" telescope and Player One Artemis-C Pro camera, with a total of 16 hours and 30 minutes of exposure time.

25/10/2026

This evenings full moon captured with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro. This image was taken using a 2 minute video and stacked inside the app.

15/10/2026

NGC7129 - 95hr HaLRGB on the Rose Bud Nebula
by Ben Saunders

Published: Sep 20, 2026

Total integration: 94h 51m

Integration per filter:
- UV/IR Cut: 33h 3m (661 × 180")
- R: 6h 18m (126 × 180")
- G: 4h 39m (93 × 180")
- B: 5h 21m (107 × 180")
- Hα: 45h 30m (273 × 600")

Equipment:
- Telescope: ZWO FF130 130mm f/7.7 Petzval Refractor
- Camera: ZWO ASI2600MM DUO
- Mount: ZWO AM5N
- Filters: Baader Blue (CMOS-Optimized) 2", Baader Green (CMOS-Optimized) 2", Baader H-alpha 7nm 2", Baader Red (CMOS-Optimized) 2", Baader UV/IR Cut / Luminance 2"
- Accessory: ZWO EFW 7 x 2″
- Software: Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight

For more information, visit AstroBin:

NGC 7129, NGC 7133, NGC 7142 imaged with ZWO FF130 130mm f/7.7 Petzval Refractor, ZWO ASI2600MM DUO, 94h 51m of total integration, by Ben Saunders on AstroBin.

07/10/2026

It's been a long time since I’ve done any processing in PixInsight well over a year now and to be honest, getting back into it has been harder than I expected.

I've had this M81/M82 data since 2024 and decided it was about time to do something with it.

The main RGB data was taken with an OSC camera, and I also had a decent amount of dual-narrowband data taken when the moon was up as an experiment, so I’ve extracted the Ha and blended it into the RGB. The Ha has really helped bring out the Ha regions in M81 and especially the surrounding Ha in M82.

I'm still finding my feet again with PixInsight, but I’m pretty pleased with how this one has turned out.
I've definitely forgotten a lot over the last year but I'm slowly getting back into it.

Drizzle x2

RGB 2890 x 180s, 144 hours 33 mins total.

Dual Narrowband 531 x 180s, 26 hours 33 mins total.

Total exposure time: 171 hours and 6 mins

Equipment used:

Telescope: SkyWatcher Quattro 150P f/3.5

Camera: Player One Artemis-C Pro

Mount: ZWO AM5 Equatorial

https://www.pixelskiesastro.com/

10/09/2026

Awesome Timelapse captured by Kasra from Astromaniac Magazine

19/06/2026

Congratulations on Image of the Day!

Discovered in 2003 by Paul Hewett and his colleagues, it was at the time described as "the largest known planetary nebula on the sky." (by angular diameter) (https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1086...

22/05/2026

Captured last night at PixelSkiesAstro with a ZWO Seestar S30 pro. The moon and M51.
If you are interested in hosting your Seestar with us get in touch. [email protected]