Issue |
A&A
Volume 515, June 2010
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | A59 | |
Number of page(s) | 6 | |
Section | Astronomical instrumentation | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/200810357 | |
Published online | 09 June 2010 |
Precision effects for solar image coordinates within the FITS world coordinate system
Adnet Systems, Inc., NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 671, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
Received:
9
June
2008
Accepted:
12
March
2010
The FITS world coordinate system (WCS) provides a number of tools for precisely specifying the spatial coordinates of an image. Many of the finer details that the WCS addresses have not historically been taken into account in solar image processing. This paper examines various effects which can affect the expression of coordinates in FITS headers, to determine under what conditions such effects need to be taken into account in data analysis, and under what conditions they can be safely ignored. Effects which are examined include perspective, parallax, spherical projection, optical axis determination, speed-of-light effects, stellar aberration, gravitational deflection, and scattering and refraction at radio wavelengths. Purely instrumental effects, such as misalignment or untreated optical aberrations, are not considered. Since the value of the solar radius is an experimental quantity, the effect of adopting a specific radius value is also examined. These effects are examined in the context of a previous paper outlining a WCS standard for encoding solar coordinates in FITS files. Aspects of that previous paper are clarified and extended in the present work.
Key words: standards / Sun: general / techniques: image processing / astronomical data bases: miscellaneous / methods: data analysis
© ESO, 2010
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