Astronomical image processing - applications to ultra-faint imaging of small, moving, solar system bodies: comets and near-Earth-objects

Summary form only given. Modern electronic detectors, or CCDs are being used on large optical ground-based and space-based telescopes to image ultra-faint astronomical sources, ranging from small, solar system bodies, to diffuse gas and dust in the interstellar medium to very distant galaxies. Observations of all these objects are challenging, but the small, solar system bodies create special demands on image processing because of their motion relative to background objects. Techniques for pushing CCD detectors on ground-based and space-based telescopes to the limits of their imaging capabilities to detect objects hundreds to thousands of times fainter than the dark night sky are discussed. The author also discusses automated techniques for searching the world's largest astronomical CCD mosaics for moving objects. The application of these techniques to understand the early history of the solar system, and toward discovering small fast-moving comets and asteroidal bodies in the near-Earth vicinity are presented.