Douglas Hope (University of Hawaii), Stuart M. Jefferies (Steward Observatory and Physics and Astronomy Department, Univ. of New Mexico), Cindy Giebink (Institute for Astronomy, Univ.of Hawaii)
Keywords: Imaging
Abstract:
Random fluctuations in the index of refraction, caused by differential heating and cooling of the atmosphere, can severely limit the quality of ground-based observations of space objects. Techniques such as adaptive optics can help compensate for the deleterious effects that such turbulence has on the images by deforming the telescope mirror and thus correcting the wave-front. However, when imaging through strong turbulence such techniques may not adequately correct the wave-front. In such cases blind restoration techniques – which estimate both the atmospheric turbulence characterized by the atmospheric point-spread-function and the object that is being observed – must be used. We demonstrate high quality blind restorations of object scenes, obtained when observing through strong turbulence, by using a sequence of images obtained simultaneously at different wavelengths and prior information on the distribution of the sources of regions of low spectral power in the data.
Date of Conference: September 12-15, 2007
Track: Imaging