Streak Detection

[ Streaks in astronomical images. Left: NEO 1988WT. Right: Asteroid in Hubble image (Evans+ 1998) ]

NEW: We released the streak detection pipeline in Python. For details, see ASTRiDE.

The algorithm aims to detect streaks in survey images as shown in the above figures. Fast moving objects whose apparent speeds exceed 10 arcsec/min are the main target of the algorithm, which includes artificial satellites, space debris, and very fast Near-Earth Objects.

Our algorithm, based on the outline shape of elongated sources (i.e. border tracing method), employs a step of image subtraction in order to reduce the confusion caused by dense distribution of faint stars.

When applied to ~7,000 images from the YSTAR telescope, nearly 700 incidents of streaks are detected. Among these streaks, fast moving objects are identified by the presence of matching streaks in adjoining frames. Almost all of the confirmed fast moving objects turn out to be artificial satellites or space debris. Majority of streaks are however meteors and cosmic ray hits, whose identity is often difficult to classify.

[ Satellites in consecutive frames ]

[ Unidentified streaks ]

This work is published in JASS (Kim+ 2005).