Related papers: AIROPA III: Testing Simulated and On-Sky Data
In contrast to the generic object, aerial targets are often non-axis aligned with arbitrary orientations having the cluttered surroundings. Unlike the mainstreamed approaches regressing the bounding box orientations, this paper proposes an…
Adaptive optics is a strategy to compensate for sample-induced aberrations in microscopy applications. Generally, it requires the presence of "guide stars" in the sample to serve as localized reference targets. We describe an implementation…
Adaptive optics is a technique mostly used on large telescopes. It turns out to be challenging for smaller telescopes (0.5~2m) due to the small isoplanatic angle, small subapertures and high correction speeds needed at visible wavelengths,…
Modern Giant Segmented Mirror Telescopes (GSMTs) like the Extremely Large Telescope, which is currently under construction, depend heavily on Adaptive Optics (AO) systems to correct for atmospheric distortions. However, a residual blur…
Many estimation problems in astrophysics are highly complex, with high-dimensional, non-standard data objects (e.g., images, spectra, entire distributions, etc.) that are not amenable to formal statistical analysis. To utilize such data and…
We present a generic algorithm for performing astronomical image registration and pointing refinement. The method is based on matching the positions and fluxes of available point sources in image overlap regions. This information is used to…
Adaptive optics (AO) systems have significantly improved astronomical imaging capabilities over the last decade, and are revolutionizing the kinds of science possible with 4-5m class ground-based telescopes. A thorough understanding of AO…
Atmospheric profiling is a requirement for controlling wide-field Adaptive Optics (AO) instruments, analyzing the AO performance with respect to the observing conditions and predicting the Point Spread Function (PSF) spatial variations. We…
We investigate the ellipticity of the point-spread function (PSF) produced by imaging an unresolved source with a telescope, subject to the effects of atmospheric turbulence. It is important to quantify these effects in order to understand…
Context: Current instrument developments at the largest telescopes worldwide have provisions for Multi-Conjugated Adaptive Optics (MCAO) modules. The large field of view and more uniform correction provided by these systems is not only…
The detection and characterisation of extra-solar planets is a major theme driving modern astronomy, with the vast majority of such measurements being achieved by Doppler radial-velocity and transit observations. Another technique -- direct…
Whether is ground-based or space-based, any optical instrument suffers from some amount of optical geometric distortion. Recently, the diffraction-limited image quality afforded by space-based telescopes and by Adaptive Optics (AO)…
Context . Initially designed to detect and characterise exoplanets, extreme adaptive optics (AO) systems open a new window onto the Solar System by resolving its small bodies. Nonetheless, their study remains limited by the accuracy of the…
High-fidelity simulated astronomical images are an important tool in developing and measuring the performance of image-processing algorithms, particularly for high precision measurements of cosmic shear -- correlated distortions of images…
Ground-based imagers at 8m class telescopes assisted by Multi conjugate Adaptive Optics are primary facilities to obtain accurate photometry and proper motions in dense stellar fields. We observed the central region of the globular clusters…
Accurate astrometry is crucial for determining orbits of near-Earth-asteroids (NEAs) and therefore better tracking them. This paper reports on a demonstration of 10 milliarcsecond-level astrometric precision on a dozen NEAs using the Pomona…
`Imaka is a ground layer adaptive optics (GLAO) demonstrator on the University of Hawaii 2.2m telescope with a 24'x18' field-of-view, nearly an order of magnitude larger than previous AO instruments. In 15 nights of observing with natural…
Second-generation exoplanet imagers using extreme adaptive optics and coronagraphy have demonstrated their great potential for studying close circumstellar environments and for detecting new companions and helping to understand their…
SPHERE is the high-contrast exoplanet imager and spectrograph installed at the Unit Telescope 3 of the Very Large Telescope. After more than two years of regular operations, we analyse statistically the performance of the adaptive optics…
The accumulation of aberrations along the optical path in a telescope produces distortions and speckles in the resulting images, limiting the performance of cameras at high angular resolution. It is important to achieve the highest possible…