Instrumental and digital coronagraphy for the observation of the Uranus satellites’ upcoming mutual events

Details Instrumental and digital coronagraphy for the observation of the Uranus satellites’ upcoming mutual events Instrumental and digital coronagraphy for the observation of the Uranus satellites’ upcoming mutual events

Nov 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008p%26ss...56.1882a&link_type=abstract

Planetary and Space Science, Volume 56, Issue 14, p. 1882-1887.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

1

Scientific paper

Ground-based observations of faint satellites nearby their planets with 1 2 m class telescopes usually do not allow for high quality astrometry and photometry, due to saturation by the primary or to poor S/N ratio on the satellite images, generally embedded on the scattered light of the planet. Earth-based observations of the Uranus satellites’ upcoming mutual events in 2007 2008 are no exception. In most cases, the event will take place at 4 arcs or less from the planet, with “planet minus satellite” brightness differences of 10 magnitudes. So as to make feasible the observations of these important phenomena, we have developed a prototype of a coronagraph of simple design making use of good quality commercial optical systems. Pilot tests made with this coronagraph with a telescope of D=1.6m show that it is possible to obtain S/N ratios of 50 or higher for 10 s exposures, for satellites as close as 2 Uranus radii from the planet center. We have also developed numerical algorithms which perform digital coronagraphy in the images, with the elimination of the influence of the planets’ scattered light. This procedure considerably improves the S/N ratio of the satellite images (with or without a coronagraph instrument) and shall be applied in the reduction of the observations of the Uranus events so as to achieve the highest possible photometric and astrometric quality.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Instrumental and digital coronagraphy for the observation of the Uranus satellites’ upcoming mutual events does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Instrumental and digital coronagraphy for the observation of the Uranus satellites’ upcoming mutual events, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Instrumental and digital coronagraphy for the observation of the Uranus satellites’ upcoming mutual events will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1287165