Thomas Oh

What are the precise effects and/or trends of atmospheric visibility conditions on FWHM of the PSF of stars in a photograph?

Started Apr. 25, 2024

Abstract or project description

The point spread function is a measure of how a point source, which is a source of light with negligible dimensions when observed, is spread out in an image. Due to the atmosphere that lies between an observed star, which is a point source, and an imaging system, the light from the star is spread out from its original point. There are many different atmospheric visibility conditions based on air thickness, weather, and turbulence, and different conditions have different effects on how spread-out light from a point source is. The independent variable of this study is the visibility of the atmosphere on a given night, with the dependent variable being the FWHM of a star in a photograph, which defines how spread out the light is. Photographs are directly recorded under different atmospheric conditions using an astrophotography rig consisting of a Fujifilm X-A7 mirrorless camera and a 62mm refractor telescope. PSF fits are produced and analyzed using the Dynamic PSF tool in the image processing software Pixinsight. This study finds that FWHM is strongly correlated with visibility conditions as seen in [blank] graphs of the photographed stars [blank], which are [info]. These findings about these specific stars indicate a negative effect on how authentic an imaged star is in a photograph and can be further used to assess the quality of an overall astronomical image and the data presented within.