Point spread function deconvolution using a convolutional autoencoder

Abstract

A major issue in optical astronomical image analysis is the combined effect of the instrument’s point spread function (PSF) and the atmospheric seeing that blurs images and changes their shape in a way that is band and time-of-observation dependent. In this work we present a very simple neural network based approach to nonblind image deconvolution that relies on feeding a convolutional autoencoder (CAE) input images that have been preprocessed by convolution with the corresponding PSF and its regularized inverse, a method which is both conceptually simple and computationally less intensive. We also present here, a new approach for dealing with limited input dynamic range of neural networks compared to the dynamic range present in astronomical images.