The leaves are red and golden. There are fake spiders everywhere, and you’ve got a bowl of candy. All you need to complete your October is this month’s RASC Robotic Telescope contest data.
Here it is. In celebration of Halloween, this month’s RASC RTScope editing contest target is NGC 6995 — the Bat Nebula, in the Eastern Veil Nebula.
Also known as IC 1340, the nebula is located in Cygnus. NASA states the object is about 1,400 light-years away from Earth, and spans about half a degree in our sky. NASA also states the Veil Nebula itself is a large supernova remnant, the expanding debris cloud from the death explosion of a massive star.
How to enter
To be eligible, submissions must be received by October 31, 2020. One entry per person. The RASC Robotic Telescope team will choose the best submission and publish the winning image. There are no entry fees.
To enter, send your image by e-mail to photo+rtscope@skynews.ca. Be sure to include your name, contact information, and the processing details.
This contest is open to residents of Canada only.
The files
You’ve read the rules and you’re all set to go. The RASC’s Robotic Telescope team have collected and calibrated the files, which are now available on Google Drive.
There are three options in terms of the levels of the file sets. Here are the details:
- Level 1 – Master Dark, and Master Flats (Ha E/W, OIII E/W) so entrants can calibrate the lights themselves
- Note: there is no master bias needed as that has already been used to calibrate the flats
- Level 2 – Calibrated lights (individual Ha & OIII files) that entrants can align and combine themselves
- Level 3 – Calibrated/Combined Master Ha & OIII that entrants can post-process themselves
Other notes: There are 7.5 hours of data in each filter, for a combined 22.5 hours in Ha/OIII/SII.
The prize
The winner of the October competition will get one-year access to all the RASC Robotic Telescope data, once the program becomes available.
They will also receive a super-awesome RASC fanny pack.
