We have released a new version of PixInsight today: 1.9.4 Lockhart. This release provides stability improvements, bug fixes, and new features on all supported operating systems. We are also releasing the first macOS ARM64 (native Apple Silicon) version of PixInsight.
Installation
Installation packages for PixInsight 1.9.4 Lockhart are now available to all licensed users for Linux, macOS (ARM64 and x64 architectures), and Windows:
https://pixinsight.com/dist/
As with all PixInsight core application updates, this version cannot be downloaded as an application update. You must install version 1.9.4 manually:
- Linux: The installation packages are xz-compressed tar archives (.tar.xz). To install one of these archives, extract its entire contents into a new directory, preferably one located under your home directory. Then, become root and run the installer program from a terminal. Typically, you should type 'yes' and press Enter to accept the default settings. Run
./installer --helpfor detailed information on command-line installer arguments.
- macOS ARM64/x64: If you have a previous version of PixInsight already installed, you must uninstall it by removing the /Applications/PixInsight folder. Run the .pkg installation package and follow the instructions. All our macOS installation packages are digitally signed with our latest corporate Apple developer certificate and have been notarized by Apple.
- Windows: Run the new installation package and follow the instructions. The installer will automatically remove a previous version, so there is no need to uninstall it first. All executable files in the PixInsight distribution for Windows, as well as our Windows installation packages, have been signed with our latest corporate Extended Validation (EV) code-signing certificate.
The PixInsight Starter Pack
Our development team, together with the WeDoArt Productions team, has created the PixInsight Starter Pack to help our users gain essential knowledge of PixInsight and astronomical image processing in an easy, logical way, using well-founded information and documents authored by our team members and expert users of our confidence.
The Starter Pack can be accessed on our corporate website and directly from the PixInsight core application via the RESOURCES > Learning main menu.
In this first version, the Starter Pack consists of the following documents:
- Welcome to PixInsight
- Quick-Start Guide
- Introduction to PixInsight
- Essential Knowledge
New V8 JavaScript Runtime
Starting on version 1.9.4, the PixInsight JavaScript Runtime (PJSR) integrates the V8 engine into the PixInsight core application. V8 is Google's high-performance, open-source JavaScript and WebAssembly engine written in C++, empowering today's most critical and demanding applications on the Internet, and is an example of excellence in contemporary software design and engineering.
V8 includes just-in-time compilers that transform JavaScript source code into machine-specific native code on the fly with unparalleled efficiency. WebAssembly modules enable implementing critical tasks in C++ source code, which is then compiled to portable WASM binary code directly accessible from JavaScript with ahead-of-time compilation.
Along with V8, the new PJSR provides a large number of ready-to-use resources and JavaScript classes for performing a wide range of numerical and data analysis, image processing, and automation tasks, all seamlessly integrated with our platform and delivered with high-performance native underlying implementations. With the V8 engine integration and all the improvements and new features we have implemented in version 1.9.4, PixInsight now offers unmatched capabilities and versatility as a development platform.
Writing JavaScript Code for the New V8 Runtime
To facilitate the transition from the old SpiderMonkey engine available in versions 1.9.3 and older, we have published a V8 Script Porting Guide with all the information necessary to port existing scripts and write new ones for the new V8 JavaScript runtime in PixInsight.
Performance Examples
To give you an idea of the performance and capabilities of the new V8 JavaScript runtime, the following images were generated by the CatalogStarGenerator script using Gaia DR3 stars up to 20 magnitude and the HR Bright Stars catalog to fill in the missing brightest stars in Gaia. These images are centered on M45 and M8 and include about 1.5 and 2.7 million rendered stars, respectively. Needless to say, this is completely impossible with the legacy engine.
Compared to the legacy JavaScript engine, V8 is on another level of efficiency. Below, we can see a comparison between both engines rendering stars in a synthetic image. The integration of V8 into PixInsight is a dream for developers: with pixel access 100x faster, scripts can run complex algorithms without needing to set up anything external to PixInsight. With the upcoming implementation of parallel JavaScript execution with new worker thread classes, you can expect this already terrific performance to be significantly boosted in subsequent versions.
| Legacy JavaScript engine Limit magnitude: 9.5 Rendered stars: 18,346 Rendering time: 1m 37s | |
| V8 JavaScript engine Limit magnitude: 15 Rendered stars: 1,786,785 Rendering time: 1m 55s |
JavaScript Runtime Documentation
Along with the new V8 runtime, we have redesigned and reimplemented the Object Explorer component, which now includes all JavaScript classes in the V8 runtime with documentation. The initial documentation has been automatically generated from internal metadescription structures in PIDoc format and compiled to HTML5 documents with our standard DocumentationCompiler script. Many JavaScript classes already include extensive documentation that we are porting from our PCL C++ source headers. Our intention is to complete the documentation of all PJSR classes over the coming months, with updates available as they are completed. Below is an example of the documentation already included in this release.
Automatic Metadata-Based Image Identifiers
In version 1.9.4 of PixInsight, we have implemented template-based, automatic generation of image identifiers. When this feature is enabled in Preferences (Global Object Identifiers section), existing metadata in XISF files can be used to generate meaningful image identifiers, including image types, object names, filter names, acquisition dates and times, exposure times, etc.
The syntax of identifier templates and macro-expressions is fully documented in the Set Image Identifier dialog, as you can see below. A default identifier template is already defined and enabled in version 1.9.4:
(primary-image-type)_(filter)_(parent-id)_(aux-original-id)This template will generate useful identifiers for master frames generated by our standard preprocessing pipeline in virtually all cases.
Overridable Image Identifiers
Image identifiers can be overridable since version 1.9.4 Lockhart. An overridable identifier can be overridden by automatically generated identifiers when the image is loaded from an XISF file, if the corresponding global preferences settings take effect.
If this feature is disabled (as it is by default when you change an image's identifier), the identifier will always be preserved, regardless of global preferences for template-based or metadata-based automatic identifier generation.
By default, image identifiers are overridable when they are defined programmatically (for example, by the WBPP script or by processes that generate new images, such as ImageIntegration). This ensures that images have meaningful default identifiers while allowing the automatic generation of metadata-based identifiers. However, identifiers are non-overridable by default when you intentionally define them (for example, by double-clicking on a main view selector), so when you manually change an identifier, it will always be preserved when you reload the image from an XISF file.
Script Instances and Icons
PixInsight 1.9.4 Lockhart's graphical interface distinguishes between process instances and script instances. In previous versions, all instances transporting script execution parameters were instances of the Script internal process. Now these instances know that they represent scripts and generate renditions with the script's icon (when available) and names and icon tooltips with the script's identifier. This represents a step forward in integrating JavaScript scripts as first-class citizens in the PixInsight platform, anticipating a series of new features in future versions, such as top-level, non-modal processing interfaces for scripts with the same functionality and behavior as C++ modules.
Updated Third-Party Libraries
PixInsight 1.9.4 Lockhart uses the latest Qt 6.8.7 LTS version on all supported platforms. This Qt version has proven remarkably efficient and fully stable in our tests.
The Little Color Management System library has been updated to version 2.18.
We have updated our RAW format support module to use LibRaw 0.22.0 Release (official version released 13 January, 2026).
The cURL library has been updated to version 8.18.0.
The Gnuplot graphing utility, which we integrate with the PixInsight platform, has been updated to the latest stable version, 6.0.4.
Recommended Platforms and Supported Operating Systems
The reference implementation of PixInsight, where you can expect the best performance and user experience, is the Linux version. Our primary development platform is Kubuntu Linux. The Linux distributions officially supported by PixInsight 1.9.4 Lockhart are:
- Kubuntu Linux 24.04 LTS
- Kubuntu Linux 22.04 LTS
PixInsight 1.9.4 for Linux requires GLIBC 2.35 or later and a working X11/XCB implementation.
PixInsight 1.9.4 for macOS has only been tested on macOS 15 Sequoia and macOS 26 Tahoe. It might be compatible with macOS 14 Sonoma, but we cannot offer any guarantee. macOS 13 Ventura, macOS 12 Monterey, macOS 11 Big Sur, and older versions are no longer supported. All our macOS installation packages, for both ARM64 and x64 architectures, are digitally signed with our corporate Apple developer certificates and have been notarized by Apple.
PixInsight 1.9.4 for Windows has only been tested on Windows 11. Windows 10 might work, but we no longer officially support it and cannot offer any guarantee. Windows 8.1, Windows 7, and older versions are not supported. All our Windows executables are digitally signed with our corporate extended validation (EV) code-signing certificate issued by DigiCert Inc.
Breaking Changes
In the design and implementation of the new V8 JavaScript runtime, we have been extremely careful to avoid breaking changes in existing processes and scripts, as well as in the runtime's programming interface. As for changes introduced in the runtime and the new requirements for scripts, we have described them in the Script Porting Guide document.
Unfortunately, we have been unable to avoid breaking changes in two standard processes: AutomaticBackgroundExtractor (ABE) and SubframeSelector (SFS). The original implementations of these processes contained design mistakes that have led to incompatibility with the new V8 JavaScript runtime. No reasonable workaround has been found without creating exceptions that would be difficult to manage in the long term, so we have chosen to accept these issues rather than keep legacy design flaws indefinitely.
Of course, both ABE and SFS continue working without problems for newly created instances, including newly processed images and new icons, projects, etc. However, all existing instances of ABE and SFS created with PixInsight 1.9.3 or earlier generate errors when loaded into PixInsight 1.9.4. These errors are related to nonexistent enumeration constants that invalidate some process parameters. The solution to these problems is simple: recreate all existing process icons by loading them in the corresponding tools, redefining the required parameters, and replacing the existing instances with newly created ones. We apologize for the trouble caused by these breaking changes. On a large, complex platform like PixInsight, sometimes issues arise that we cannot control as we’d like.
Known Problems
Windows
- On some Windows 11 installations, XISF files are potentially dangerous according to Windows Security in directory search operations performed by applications using Qt 6 (curiously, not those using Qt 5). When this happens, Windows Security (and Windows Defender) loads and scans every existing XISF file during a directory search. Typically, this leads to 20-30 second delays when a folder contains just 5-10 XISF images and may require a forced application termination for folders containing 100 or more large XISF files.
Fortunately, solving this problem is easy by adding file type exceptions to the Windows Security application. All PixInsight users on Windows must do the following in order to use PixInsight:- Start Menu
- Windows Security
- Virus & Threat Protection
- Under Virus and threat protection settings, click Manage settings.
- Under Exclusions (bottom of page), click Add or remove exclusions.
- Accept the UAC dialog.
- Click the Add an exclusion button.
- Select File type from the drop-down menu.
- Type xisf in the Enter extension box.
- Click Add.
Linux
- Recent versions of the KDE Plasma desktop environment include a morphing popups desktop effect that causes serious problems with recent PixInsight versions. If this effect is enabled, it slows down some dragging operations in the PixInsight core application, such as dragging icons and view selectors. You should disable this effect, which is very easy to do in KDE's System Settings panel.
- PixInsight is not compatible with the open-source Nouveau graphics driver. If your distribution uses Nouveau, you must remove it to use the proprietary NVIDIA driver with PixInsight.
- We do not support Wayland. The main reason, besides stability issues, is that Wayland does not allow programmatically setting the position of a top-level window. This limitation is unacceptable, and the excuses offered to justify it are even more so. Without the possibility to define top-level window geometries, Wayland is incompatible with our graphical user interface. Supporting Wayland will require the complete rewrite of a significant part of the PixInsight core application, with profound implications for the rest of our platform at all levels. Eventually, we'll be forced to perform this work, which will be completely unproductive and a step backward, possibly leading to a degradation of functionality that we'll try to minimize. For now, to use PixInsight on Linux, a working X11/XCB implementation is required.
Made With Natural Intelligence
All the source code, documentation, verification, and testing work has been carried out by professional software developers, astronomers, creative designers, and content creators. You can be sure you can look into the eyes of everyone involved in developing this PixInsight version. No 'AI' has written or manipulated a single character of our source code.
