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Parallel-Processing Astrophysical Image-Analysis Tools
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| This proposal describes a three-year research plan to develop and implement several parallel-processing astrophysical image-analysis tools for two of NASA's Great Observatories: the Hubble Space Telescope and the Spitzer Space Telescope. These new data-analysis software tools will be written with the goal of enhancing the scientific return of these missions. This project will improve and extend the AISR-funded enabling image-processing technology of the Principal Investigator's MATPHOT algorithm for precise and accurate stellar photometry and astrometry with discrete Point Spread Functions. The PI has recently demonstrated (in the 11 August 2005 issue of the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society) that the current C implementation of the MATPHOT algorithm can achieve millipixel relative astrometry and millimag photometric precision with complicated space-based discrete Point Spread Functions imaged onto imperfect detectors with large intrapixel quantum efficiency variations. This project combines state-of-the-art astrophysical image processing techniques with the enabling technology of Beowulf clusters which offer excellent cost/performance ratios for computational power. The PI will use the project software to investigate the possibility of significantly improving the current state-of-the-art of space-based optical and infrared stellar photometry and astrometry by analyzing existing archival imaging data from the NASA mission data archives for HST and SST. This project is structured into three one-year phases. The major software products will be posted (at the end of each one-year phase) on web sites dedicated to this project on the web servers of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory. |
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