Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Image Processing”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 883 records · Page 49
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2016

DEEP WIDEBAND SINGLE POINTINGS AND MOSAICS IN RADIO INTERFEROMETRY: HOW ACCURATELY DO WE RECONSTRUCT INTENSITIES AND SPECTRAL INDICES OF FAINT SOURCES?

Many deep wideband wide-field radio interferometric surveys are being designed to accurately measure intensities, spectral indices, and polarization properties of faint source populations. In this paper, we compare various wideband imaging methods to evaluate the accuracy to which intensities and spectral indices of sources close to the confusion limit can be reconstructed. We simulated a wideband single-pointing (C-array, L-Band (1–2 GHz)) and 46-pointing mosaic (D-array, C-Band (4–8 GHz)) JVLA observation using a realistic brightness distribution ranging from 1 μ Jy to 100 mJy and time-, frequency-, polarization-, and direction-dependent instrumental effects. The main results from these comparisons are (a) errors in the reconstructed intensities and spectral indices are larger for weaker sources even in the absence of simulated noise, (b) errors are systematically lower for joint reconstruction methods (such as Multi-Term Multi-Frequency-Synthesis (MT-MFS)) along with A-Projection for accurate primary beam correction, and (c) use of MT-MFS for image reconstruction eliminates Clean-bias (which is present otherwise). Auxiliary tests include solutions for deficiencies of data partitioning methods (e.g., the use of masks to remove clean bias and hybrid methods to remove sidelobes from sources left un-deconvolved), the effect of sources not at pixel centers, and the consequences of various other numerical approximations within software implementations. This paper also demonstrates the level of detail at which such simulations must be done in order to reflect reality, enable one to systematically identify specific reasons for every trend that is observed, and to estimate scientifically defensible imaging performance metrics and the associated computational complexity of the algorithms/analysis procedures.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

CHANGES IN THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT OF THE INNER COMA OF 67P/CHURYUMOV–GERASIMENKO WITH DECREASING HELIOCENTRIC DISTANCE

The Wide Angle Camera of the OSIRIS instrument on board the Rosetta spacecraft is equipped with several narrow-band filters that are centered on the emission lines and bands of various fragment species. These are used to determine the evolution of the production and spatial distribution of the gas in the inner coma of comet 67P with time and heliocentric distance, here between 2.6 and 1.3 au pre-perihelion. Our observations indicate that the emission observed in the OH, O i, CN, NH, and NH{sub 2} filters is mostly produced by dissociative electron impact excitation of different parent species. We conclude that CO{sub 2} rather than H{sub 2}O is a significant source of the [O i] 630 nm emission. A strong plume-like feature observed in the CN and O i filters is present throughout our observations. This plume is not present in OH emission and indicates a local enhancement of the CO{sub 2}/H{sub 2}O ratio by as much as a factor of 3. We observed a sudden decrease in intensity levels after 2015 March, which we attribute to decreased electron temperatures in the first few kilometers above the surface of the nucleus.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

A SYMMETRIC INNER CAVITY IN THE HD 141569A CIRCUMSTELLAR DISK

Some circumstellar disks, called transitional or hybrid disks, present characteristics of both protoplanetary disks (significant amount of gas) and debris disks (evolved structures around young main-sequence stars, composed of second generation dust, from collisions between planetesimals). Therefore, they are ideal astrophysical laboratories to witness the last stages of planet formation. The circumstellar disk around HD 141569A was intensively observed and resolved in the past from space, but also from the ground. However, the recent implementation of high contrast imaging systems has opened up new opportunities to re-analyze this object. We analyzed Gemini archival data from the Near-infrared Coronagraphic Imager obtained in 2011 in the H band, using several angular differential imaging techniques (classical ADI, LOCI, KLIP). These images reveal the complex structures of this disk with an unprecedented resolution. We also include archival Hubble Space Telescope images as an independent data set to confirm these findings. Using an analysis of the inner edge of the disk, we show that the inner disk is almost axisymmetrical. The measurement of an offset toward the east observed by previous authors is likely due to the fact that the eastern part of this disk is wider and more complex in substructure. Our precise reanalysis of the eastern side shows several structures, including a splitting of the disk and a small finger detached from the inner edge to the southeast. Finally, we find that the arc at 250 AU is unlikely to be a spiral, at least not at the inclination derived from the first ring, but instead could be interpreted as a third belt at a different inclination. If the very symmetrical inner disk edge is carved by a companion, the data presented here put additional constraints on its position. The observed very complex structures will be confirmed by the new generation of coronagraphic instrument (GPI, SPHERE). However, a full understanding of this system will require gas observations at millimetric wavelengths.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

HIGH-RESOLUTION LINEAR POLARIMETRIC IMAGING FOR THE EVENT HORIZON TELESCOPE

Images of the linear polarizations of synchrotron radiation around active galactic nuclei (AGNs) highlight their projected magnetic field lines and provide key data for understanding the physics of accretion and outflow from supermassive black holes. The highest-resolution polarimetric images of AGNs are produced with Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI). Because VLBI incompletely samples the Fourier transform of the source image, any image reconstruction that fills in unmeasured spatial frequencies will not be unique and reconstruction algorithms are required. In this paper, we explore some extensions of the Maximum Entropy Method (MEM) to linear polarimetric VLBI imaging. In contrast to previous work, our polarimetric MEM algorithm combines a Stokes I imager that only uses bispectrum measurements that are immune to atmospheric phase corruption, with a joint Stokes Q and U imager that operates on robust polarimetric ratios. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our technique on 7 and 3 mm wavelength quasar observations from the VLBA and simulated 1.3 mm Event Horizon Telescope observations of Sgr A* and M87. Consistent with past studies, we find that polarimetric MEM can produce superior resolution compared to the standard CLEAN algorithm, when imaging smooth and compact source distributions. As an imaging framework, MEM is highly adaptable, allowing a range of constraints on polarization structure. Polarimetric MEM is thus an attractive choice for image reconstruction with the EHT.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

COSMIC SHEAR MEASUREMENT USING AUTO-CONVOLVED IMAGES

We study the possibility of using quadrupole moments of auto-convolved galaxy images to measure cosmic shear. The autoconvolution of an image corresponds to the inverse Fourier transformation of its power spectrum. The new method has the following advantages: the smearing effect due to the point-spread function (PSF) can be corrected by subtracting the quadrupole moments of the auto-convolved PSF; the centroid of the auto-convolved image is trivially identified; the systematic error due to noise can be directly removed in Fourier space; the PSF image can also contain noise, the effect of which can be similarly removed. With a large ensemble of simulated galaxy images, we show that the new method can reach a sub-percent level accuracy under general conditions, albeit with increasingly large stamp size for galaxies of less compact profiles.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Superresolution Full-polarimetric Imaging for Radio Interferometry with Sparse Modeling

We propose a new technique for radio interferometry to obtain superresolution full-polarization images in all four Stokes parameters using sparse modeling. The proposed technique reconstructs the image in each Stokes parameter from the corresponding full-complex Stokes visibilities by utilizing two regularization functions: the ℓ {sub 1} norm and the total variation (TV) of the brightness distribution. As an application of this technique, we present simulated linear polarization observations of two physically motivated models of M87 with the Event Horizon Telescope. We confirm that ℓ {sub 1}+TV regularization can achieve an optimal resolution of ~25%–30% of the diffraction limit λ/D{sub max}, which is the nominal spatial resolution of a radio interferometer for both the total intensity (i.e., Stokes I) and linear polarizations (i.e., Stokes Q and U). This optimal resolution is better than that obtained from the widely used Cotton–Schwab CLEAN algorithm or from using ℓ {sub 1} or TV regularizations alone. Furthermore, we find that ℓ {sub 1}+TV regularization can achieve much better image fidelity in linear polarization than other techniques over a wide range of spatial scales, not only in the superresolution regime, but also on scales larger than the diffraction limit. Our results clearly demonstrate that sparse reconstruction is a useful choice for high-fidelity full-polarimetric interferometric imaging.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

The Star Blended with the MOA-2008-BLG-310 Source Is Not the Exoplanet Host Star

High-resolution Hubble Space Telescope (HST) image analysis of the MOA-2008-BLG-310 microlens system indicates that the excess flux at the location of the source found in the discovery paper cannot primarily be due to the lens star because it does not match the lens–source relative proper motion, μ{sub rel}, predicted by the microlens models. This excess flux is most likely to be due to an unrelated star that happens to be located in close proximity to the source star. Two epochs of HST observations indicate proper motion for this blend star that is typical of a random bulge star but is not consistent with a companion to the source or lens stars if the flux is dominated by only one star, aside from the lens. We consider models in which the excess flux is due to a combination of an unrelated star and the lens star, and this yields a 95% confidence level upper limit on the lens star brightness of I{sub L}>22.44 and V{sub L}>23.62. A Bayesian analysis using a standard Galactic model and these magnitude limits yields a host star mass of M{sub h}=0.21{sub −0.09}{sup +0.21} M{sub ⊙} and a planet mass of m{sub p}=23.4{sub −9.9}{sup +23.9} M{sub ⊕} at a projected separation of a{sub ⊥}=1.12{sub −0.17}{sup +0.16} au. This result illustrates that excess flux in a high-resolution image of a microlens–source system need not be due to the lens. It is important to check that the lens–source relative proper motion is consistent with the microlensing prediction. The high-resolution image analysis techniques developed in this paper can be used to verify the WFIRST exoplanet microlensing survey mass measurements.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

The Pointing Self-calibration Algorithm for Aperture Synthesis Radio Telescopes

This paper is concerned with algorithms for calibration of direction-dependent effects (DDE) in aperture synthesis radio telescopes (ASRT). After correction of direction-independent effects (DIE) using self-calibration, imaging performance can be limited by the imprecise knowledge of the forward gain of the elements in the array. In general, the forward gain pattern is directionally dependent and varies with time due to a number of reasons. Some factors, such as rotation of the primary beam with Parallactic Angle for Azimuth–Elevation mount antennas are known a priori. Some, such as antenna pointing errors and structural deformation/projection effects for aperture-array elements cannot be measured a priori. Thus, in addition to algorithms to correct for DD effects known a priori, algorithms to solve for DD gains are required for high dynamic range imaging. Here, we discuss a mathematical framework for antenna-based DDE calibration algorithms and show that this framework leads to computationally efficient optimal algorithms that scale well in a parallel computing environment. As an example of an antenna-based DD calibration algorithm, we demonstrate the Pointing SelfCal (PSC) algorithm to solve for the antenna pointing errors. Our analysis show that the sensitivity of modern ASRT is sufficient to solve for antenna pointing errors and other DD effects. We also discuss the use of the PSC algorithm in real-time calibration systems and extensions for antenna Shape SelfCal algorithm for real-time tracking and corrections for pointing offsets and changes in antenna shape.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Stellar Variability at the Main-sequence Turnoff of the Intermediate-age LMC Cluster NGC 1846

Intermediate-age (IA) star clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) present extended main-sequence turn-offs (MSTO) that have been attributed to either multiple stellar populations or an effect of stellar rotation. Recently it has been proposed that these extended main sequences can also be produced by ill-characterized stellar variability. Here we present Gemini-S/Gemini Multi-Object Spectrometer (GMOS) time series observations of the IA cluster NGC 1846. Using differential image analysis, we identified 73 new variable stars, with 55 of those being of the Delta Scuti type, that is, pulsating variables close the MSTO for the cluster age. Considering completeness and background contamination effects, we estimate the number of δ Sct belonging to the cluster between 40 and 60 members, although this number is based on the detection of a single δ Sct within the cluster half-light radius. This amount of variable stars at the MSTO level will not produce significant broadening of the MSTO, albeit higher-resolution imaging will be needed to rule out variable stars as a major contributor to the extended MSTO phenomenon. Though modest, this amount of δ Sct makes NGC 1846 the star cluster with the highest number of these variables ever discovered. Lastly, our results present a cautionary tale about the adequacy of shallow variability surveys in the LMC (like OGLE) to derive properties of its δ Sct population.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

ON THE NON-KOLMOGOROV NATURE OF FLARE-PRODUCTIVE SOLAR ACTIVE REGIONS

A magnetic power spectral analysis is performed on 53 solar active regions, observed from 2011 August to 2012 July. Magnetic field data obtained from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager, inverted as Active Region Patches, are used to study the evolution of the magnetic power index as each region rotates across the solar disk. Active regions are classified based on the numbers and sizes of solar flares they produce in order to study the relationship between flare productivity and the magnetic power index. The choice of window size and inertial range plays a key role in determining the correct magnetic power index. The overall distribution of magnetic power indices has a range of 1.0–2.5. Flare-quiet regions peak at a value of 1.6. However, flare-productive regions peak at a value of 2.2. Overall, the histogram of the distribution of power indices of flare-productive active regions is well separated from flare-quiet active regions. Only 12% of flare-quiet regions exhibit an index greater than 2, whereas 90% of flare-productive regions exhibit an index greater than 2. Flare-quiet regions exhibit a high temporal variance (i.e., the index fluctuates between high and low values), whereas flare-productive regions maintain an index greater than 2 for several days. This shows the importance of including the temporal evolution of active regions in flare prediction studies, and highlights the potential of a 2–3 day prediction window for space weather applications.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

THE BOSS EMISSION-LINE LENS SURVEY. IV. SMOOTH LENS MODELS FOR THE BELLS GALLERY SAMPLE

We present Hubble Space Telescope F606W-band imaging observations of 21 galaxy-Ly α emitter lens candidates in the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey Emission-Line Lens Survey (BELLS) for the GALaxy-Ly α EmitteR sYstems (BELLS GALLERY) survey. Seventeen systems are confirmed to be definite lenses with unambiguous evidence of multiple imaging. The lenses are primarily massive early-type galaxies (ETGs) at redshifts of approximately 0.55, while the lensed sources are Ly α emitters (LAEs) at redshifts from two to three. Although most of the lens systems are well fit by smooth lens models consisting of singular isothermal ellipsoids in an external shear field, a thorough exploration of dark substructures in the lens galaxies is required. The Einstein radii of the BELLS GALLERY lenses are, on average, 60% larger than those of the BELLS lenses because of the much higher source redshifts. This will allow for a detailed investigation of the radius evolution of the mass profile in ETGs. With the aid of the average ∼13× lensing magnification, the LAEs are frequently resolved into individual star-forming knots with a wide range of properties. They have characteristic sizes from less than 100 pc to several kiloparsecs, rest-frame far-UV apparent AB magnitudes from 29.6 to 24.2, and typical projected separations of 500 pc to 2 kpc.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Long-term Study of the Solar Filaments from the Synoptic Maps as Derived from H{sub α} Spectroheliograms of the Kodaikanal Observatory

The century long (1914–2007) H{sub α} (656.28 nm) spectroheliograms from the Kodaikanal Solar Observatory (KSO) have been recently digitized. Using these newly calibrated, processed images we study the evolution of dark elongated on-disk structures called filaments, which are potential representatives of magnetic activities on the Sun. To our knowledge, this is the oldest uniform digitized data set with daily images available today in H{sub α}. We generate Carrington maps for the entire time duration and try to find the correlations with maps of the same Carrington rotation from the Ca ii K KSO data. Filaments are segmented from the Carrington maps using a semi-automated technique and are studied individually to extract their centroids and tilts. We plot the time-latitude distribution of the filament centroids, producing a butterfly diagram which clearly shows the presence of poleward migration. We separate polar filaments for each cycle and try to estimate the delay between the polar filament number cycle and the sunspot number cycle peaks. We correlate this delay with the delay between polar reversal and sunspot number maxima. This provides new insight on the role of polar filaments on polar reversal.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

The Dark Energy Survey Supernova Program: Light Curves and 5 Yr Data Release

We present griz photometric light curves for the full 5 yr of the Dark Energy Survey Supernova (DES-SN) program, obtained with both forced point-spread function photometry on difference images (DiffImg) performed during survey operations, and scene modelling photometry (SMP) on search images processed after the survey. This release contains 31,636 DiffImg and 19,706 high-quality SMP light curves, the latter of which contain 1635 photometrically classified SNe that pass cosmology quality cuts. This sample spans the largest redshift (z) range ever covered by a single SN survey (0.1 < z < 1.13) and is the largest single sample from a single instrument of SNe ever used for cosmological constraints. We describe in detail the improvements made to obtain the final DES-SN photometry and provide a comparison to what was used in the 3 yr DES-SN spectroscopically confirmed Type Ia SN sample. We also include a comparative analysis of the performance of the SMP photometry with respect to the real-time DiffImg forced photometry and find that SMP photometry is more precise, more accurate, and less sensitive to the host-galaxy surface brightness anomaly. The public release of the light curves and ancillary data can be found at github.com/des-science/DES-SN5YR and doi:10.5281/zenodo.12720777.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

An Application of Multi-band Forced Photometry to One Square Degree of SERVS: Accurate Photometric Redshifts and Implications for Future Science

We apply The Tractor image modeling code to improve upon existing multi-band photometry for the Spitzer Extragalactic Representative Volume Survey (SERVS). SERVS consists of post-cryogenic Spitzer observations at 3.6 and 4.5 μ m over five well-studied deep fields spanning 18 deg{sup 2}. In concert with data from ground-based near-infrared (NIR) and optical surveys, SERVS aims to provide a census of the properties of massive galaxies out to z ≈ 5. To accomplish this, we are using The Tractor to perform “forced photometry.” This technique employs prior measurements of source positions and surface brightness profiles from a high-resolution fiducial band from the VISTA Deep Extragalactic Observations survey to model and fit the fluxes at lower-resolution bands. We discuss our implementation of The Tractor over a square-degree test region within the XMM Large Scale Structure field with deep imaging in 12 NIR/optical bands. Our new multi-band source catalogs offer a number of advantages over traditional position-matched catalogs, including (1) consistent source cross-identification between bands, (2) de-blending of sources that are clearly resolved in the fiducial band but blended in the lower resolution SERVS data, (3) a higher source detection fraction in each band, (4) a larger number of candidate galaxies in the redshift range 5 < z < 6, and (5) a statistically significant improvement in the photometric redshift accuracy as evidenced by the significant decrease in the fraction of outliers compared to spectroscopic redshifts. Thus, forced photometry using The Tractor offers a means of improving the accuracy of multi-band extragalactic surveys designed for galaxy evolution studies. We will extend our application of this technique to the full SERVS footprint in the future.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Stellar Photometric Structures of the Host Galaxies of Nearby Type 1 Active Galactic Nuclei

We present detailed image analysis of rest-frame optical images of 235 low-redshift ( z ≲ 0.35) Type 1 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) observed with the Hubble Space Telescope . The high-resolution images enable us to perform rigorous two-dimensional image modeling to decouple the luminous central point source from the host galaxy, which, when warranted, is further decomposed into its principal structural components (bulge, bar, and disk). In many cases, care must be taken to account for structural complexities such as spiral arms, tidal features, and overlapping or interacting companion galaxies. We employ Fourier modes to characterize the degree of asymmetry of the light distribution of the stars as a quantitative measure of morphological distortion due to interactions or mergers. We examine the dependence of the physical parameters of the host galaxies on the properties of the AGNs, namely, radio-loudness and the width of the broad emission lines. In accordance with previous studies, narrow-line (H β FWHM ≤ 2000 km s{sup −1}) Type 1 AGNs, in contrast to their broad-line (H β FWHM > 2000 km s{sup −1}) counterparts, are preferentially hosted in later-type, lower-luminosity galaxies, which have a higher incidence of pseudo-bulges, are more frequently barred, and are less morphologically disturbed. This suggests that narrow-line Type 1 AGNs experienced a more quiescent evolutionary history driven primarily by internal secular evolution instead of external dynamical perturbations. The fraction of AGN hosts showing merger signatures is larger for more luminous sources. Radio-loud AGNs generally preferentially live in earlier-type (bulge-dominated), more massive hosts, although a minority of them appear to contain a significant disk component. We do not find convincing evidence for enhanced merger signatures in the radio-loud population.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

HAZE AT OCCATOR CRATER ON DWARF PLANET CERES

A diurnal varying haze layer at the bright spots of Occator on dwarf planet Ceres has been reported from images of the Dawn Framing Camera. This finding is supported by ground-based observations revealing diurnal albedo changes at Occator’s longitude. In the present work, we further investigate the previously reported haze phenomenon in more detail using additional Framing Camera images. We demonstrate that the light scattering behavior at the central floor of Occator is different compared to a typical cerean surface and is likely inconsistent with a pure solid surface scatterer. The identified deviation is best explained by an additional component to the scattered light of the surface, i.e., a haze layer. Our results support the water vapor detection by Herschel observations though the existence of a tenuous cerean exosphere is not yet confirmed.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

First Scattered-light Images of the Gas-rich Debris Disk around 49 Ceti

We present the first scattered-light images of the debris disk around 49 Ceti, a ∼40 Myr A1 main-sequence star at 59 pc, famous for hosting two massive dust belts as well as large quantities of atomic and molecular gas. The outer disk is revealed in reprocessed archival Hubble Space Telescope NICMOS-F110W images, as well as new coronagraphic H-band images from the Very Large Telescope SPHERE instrument. The disk extends from 1.″1 (65 au) to 4.″6 (250 au) and is seen at an inclination of 73°, which refines previous measurements at lower angular resolution. We also report no companion detection larger than 3 M {sub Jup} at projected separations beyond 20 au from the star (0.″34). Comparison between the F110W and H-band images is consistent with a gray color of 49 Ceti’s dust, indicating grains larger than ≳2 μ m. Our photometric measurements indicate a scattering efficiency/infrared excess ratio of 0.2–0.4, relatively low compared to other characterized debris disks. We find that 49 Ceti presents morphological and scattering properties very similar to the gas-rich HD 131835 system. From our constraint on the disk inclination we find that the atomic gas previously detected in absorption must extend to the inner disk, and that the latter must be depleted of CO gas. Building on previous studies, we propose a schematic view of the system describing the dust and gas structure around 49 Ceti and hypothetical scenarios for the gas nature and origin.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Eyes can See What Mind Can’t see

A 55 year old Caucasian female with a history of Iron deficiency anemia with hemoglobin of 6.1 gm/dl was admitted from her hematologist office for a Venofer infusion. She had profound confusion on presentation. Physical examination was pertinent for fever of 101οF, and laboratory data pertinent for elevated blood sugars of 590 mg/dl, leukocytosis of 10.3 K/UL with bandemia of 13%, elevated AST 170 U/L, ALT 184 U/L, and normal alkaline phosphate and total bilirubin. She was subsequently found to have Strep. Viridian bacteremia and CT scan of Chestabdomen- pelvis revealed multiple hepatosplenic masses consistent with malignancy or abscesses. Liver biopsy showed benign liver cells with a background of acute and chronic inflammatory cells and abscess (*image shown). She was treated with long term course of Ceftriaxone via PICC line.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗