Francisco Serrano, José García, Ignacio Blanco (n-kuadra astrophotography)
The Cocoon Nebula (IC 5146) in Cygnus is both an emission and reflection nebula, and appears at the end of the dark nebula Barnard 168, like an glowing orb held by a shadowy tentacle. When seen through a telescope, sometimes only Barnard 168 is visible. This HαLRGB image was taken with a pair of 3.2-inch refractors over 7 nights, amounting to nearly 37.5 hours of integration.