An efficient algorithm for determining positions of astronomical objects in the Deep Sky Object pictures

Abstract

Abstract. The article presents an algorithm for digital image processing of astronomical objects in order to effectively determine the position of these objects. The proposed method has been optimized due to its effectiveness of removing noise and distortion caused by atmospheric turbulence and imperfections in long exposure photography of astronomical objects. This solution is ready for implementation in a system for automatic identification of stars in the recorded images. Such a system is designed for GoTo circuits at telescope's drives, which can automatically point a telescope to astronomical objects. The method was verified by simulation in MATLAB program on real images of astronomical objects.

Stars’ Centroid Determination Using PSF-Fitting Method

“…A previously built tracking system described in other works [11][12][13][14] and our earlier works [1][2][3][4][5] uses the standard centre of mass method to calculate the reference star's position. It is a simple method that does not require large computations but does not take into account present atmospheric conditions and specific parameters of the optical system in a particular observation session.…”

“…To create reference data for the three tested methods, a calibration procedure of a series of thirteen M33 Galaxy images has been performed. Flat, dark and biased pictures [1] have also been taken into consideration. During the calibration process, a correlation of images, using 126 stars, has been done.…”

“…An adaptive optics (AO) system of the telescope is used to restore real images. The aim of the AO is to filter the distortions from the deep sky image and to generate a compensatory signal to control the telescope corrector [1][2][3][4][5]. Determination of the star position -called a centroid detection -is one of the main AO tasks.…”