Physics – Optics
Scientific paper
Jul 1996
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996apopt..35.4173p&link_type=abstract
Applied Optics LP, vol. 35, Issue 21, p.4173
Physics
Optics
Astronomical Optics, Coherence And Statistical Optics, Instrumentation: Measurement: And Metrology, Photon Counting, Remote Sensing, Signal-To-Noise Ratio
Scientific paper
A small telescope on an airplane or in low Earth orbit can, in principle, resolve ground objects under starlight with useful resolution. For an approximately 50-cm aperture and approximately 100-s exposure, one can obtain a resolution of tens of centimeters from an aircraft and a few meters from orbit. Such starlight images are photon poor, and feature detection depends on photon statistics. Scattered light, atmospheric absorption, and foreground airglow all degrade image contrast. I report an investigation into image signal-to-noise ratio using first-order analytical approximations. We find that, for a given angular resolution, the signal-to-noise ratio for spaceborne images is degraded approximately a factor of 1.7, compared with airborne images, by foreground airglow. Image signal-to-noise ratio improves as the passband moves to the red and as skies become brighter from artificial illumination.
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