Astrometric observations of a near-Earth object using the image fusion technique

TL;DR

This paper introduces an image fusion technique to enhance the accuracy and precision of astrometric observations of small near-Earth objects, addressing challenges posed by their faintness and rapid movement.

Contribution

The study presents a novel image fusion method that combines reference stars and NEO images to improve astrometric measurements of small NEOs.

Findings

Enhanced astrometric accuracy for NEO Eros after applying the fusion technique

Reduction of errors caused by telescope tracking and ephemeris inaccuracies

Improved signal-to-noise ratio in fused images

Abstract

The precise astrometric observation of small near-Earth objects (NEOs) is an important observational research topic in the astrometric discipline, which greatly promotes multidisciplinary research, such as the origin and evolution of the solar system, the detection and early warning of small NEOs, and deep-space navigation. The characteristics of small NEOs, such as faintness and fast moving speed, restrict the accuracy and precision of their astrometric observations. In the paper, we present a method to improve the accurate and precise astrometric positions of NEOs based on image fusion technique. The noise analysis and astrometric test from the observed images of the open cluster M23 are given. Using the image fusion technique, we obtain the sets of superimposed images and original images containing reference stars and moving targets respectively. The final fused image set includes background stars with high signal-to-noise ratios and ideal NEO images simultaneously and avoids the saturation of background stars. Using the fused images, we can reduce the influence of telescope tracking and NEO ephemeris errors on astrometric observations, and our results indicate that the accuracy and precision of NEO Eros astrometry are improved obviously after we choose suitable image fuse mode.