He’s two for two — Ian Barredo’s composition of the Helix Nebula has won the September 2020 edition of the RASC Robotic Telescope editing contest.

Using the “Level 3” RASC RTscope files for NGC 7293, Barredo said he processed the image using the Ha-Oiii bicolor technique for narrowband. He stretched it in Astro Pixel Processor and created a synthetic green channel using Ha and Oiii. He conducted curve adjustment, selective colour and saturation in Photoshop.

Barredo also won the August 2020 RASC RTscope editing contest for his composition of Messier 82.

October 2020’s target

To celebrate 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 it 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 for the October edition of the contest, 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 files are available on Google Drive here. There are three options in terms of the levels of the file sets.

For more details, read the full article about the contest here.