Author Information

Brendan PowersFollow

Is this project an undergraduate, graduate, or faculty project?

Undergraduate

individual

What campus are you from?

Daytona Beach

Authors' Class Standing

Brendan Powers, Junior

Lead Presenter's Name

Brendan Powers

Faculty Mentor Name

Dr. Ashley Kehoe

Abstract

The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) data is a highly sensitive all-sky survey that mapped the sky at infrared wavelengths. The coadded data product produced, the Atlas Tiles, has as much as 500 times the sensitivity of its predecessor, the InfraRed Astronomical Satellite (IRAS), but the processing of the WISE data was performed in a manner that resulted in the blurring of any nearby spatially extended emission structures. Due to its orbit and observing strategy, WISE surveyed the same patch of sky twice a year, separated by 6 months. One observation occurred while the satellite was looking in the Earth-leading direction, and this same patch of the sky was surveyed again when the satellite was pointed in the Earth-trailing direction, resulting in observations taken approximately 180 degrees apart in solar longitude. While this scanning technique sufficiently samples distant objects, nearby objects appear disjointed if a coadded frame is created from images taken at different solar elongation angles, as in the WISE Atlas Tile database. In order to use WISE to reveal interplanetary extended emission features without losing the high signal-to-noise (SNR), our research group reprocessed the entire WISE dataset into an all-sky data product, WISE-R (WISE-Reprocessed) that both maintains the native sensitivity and preserves the nearby source position. In this presentation we will discuss the process of data reduction using the Embry-Riddle Vega Super Computing Cluster, and the NASA IPAC Montage Toolkit to reprocess an additional waveband of data.

Key Words: Data, Astronomy, Dust, Parallel Computing

Did this research project receive funding support from the Office of Undergraduate Research.

No

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WISE-Reprocessed Infrared Images of The Solar System

The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) data is a highly sensitive all-sky survey that mapped the sky at infrared wavelengths. The coadded data product produced, the Atlas Tiles, has as much as 500 times the sensitivity of its predecessor, the InfraRed Astronomical Satellite (IRAS), but the processing of the WISE data was performed in a manner that resulted in the blurring of any nearby spatially extended emission structures. Due to its orbit and observing strategy, WISE surveyed the same patch of sky twice a year, separated by 6 months. One observation occurred while the satellite was looking in the Earth-leading direction, and this same patch of the sky was surveyed again when the satellite was pointed in the Earth-trailing direction, resulting in observations taken approximately 180 degrees apart in solar longitude. While this scanning technique sufficiently samples distant objects, nearby objects appear disjointed if a coadded frame is created from images taken at different solar elongation angles, as in the WISE Atlas Tile database. In order to use WISE to reveal interplanetary extended emission features without losing the high signal-to-noise (SNR), our research group reprocessed the entire WISE dataset into an all-sky data product, WISE-R (WISE-Reprocessed) that both maintains the native sensitivity and preserves the nearby source position. In this presentation we will discuss the process of data reduction using the Embry-Riddle Vega Super Computing Cluster, and the NASA IPAC Montage Toolkit to reprocess an additional waveband of data.

Key Words: Data, Astronomy, Dust, Parallel Computing

 

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