The elaboration of real and simulated data seems to prove the effectiveness of StarFinder in analyzing crowded isoplanatic stellar fields characterized by high Strehl ratio PSFs and correct sampling, reaching in this case the full utilization of the data information content. The code can be applied also to low Strehl data with results comparable to those attainable by other methods. Moreover we are evaluating its performance on undersampled images.
StarFinder is also reasonably fast: the
analysis of the Galactic Center image (
pixels,
1000 stars)
requires between 5 and 10 minutes on a normal PC (Pentium
Pro -64 Mb RAM -350 MHz). The graphic interface makes it
accessible to users unfamiliar with IDL.
In the near future we plan to provide the code with tools to handle images with spatially variable PSF and new elements which might be helpful in the analysis of a stellar field. An interesting application, still in progress, aims at cleaning mixed fields from the contamination of foreground stellar images, leaving out true or suspected diffuse sources.
The StarFinder package and its technical documentation are directly available at: http://www.bo.astro.it or can be obtained on request to E. Diolaiti.
Acknowledgements
François Rigaut is thanked for kindly providing the PUEO image of the Galactic Center and for supporting the initial development of this method. We acknowledge the support of the ESO La Silla 3.6 m telescope team during the technical observations with Adonis, from which we have retrieved "real'' PSFs used to simulate stellar fields. This work was partially supported by the ESO Instrumentation Division Adaptive Optics Dept. and by the Italian Ministry for University and Research (MURST) under grant Cofin 98-02-32.
Copyright The European Southern Observatory (ESO)