DO WE NEED TO MODEL PLATES AT ALL?

The historical method of obtaining equatorial coordinates for stars observed via astronomical photography has been to convert the measured coordinates to equatorial coordinates with the aid of a plate model which corrects for a variety of effects. However, we now have at our disposal novel smoothing...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 1998-05, Vol.296 (1), p.66-76
Main Authors: Morrison, J E, Smart, R L, Taff, L G
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
astrometry
catalogues
methods: data analysis
methods: statistical
surveys
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The historical method of obtaining equatorial coordinates for stars observed via astronomical photography has been to convert the measured coordinates to equatorial coordinates with the aid of a plate model which corrects for a variety of effects. However, we now have at our disposal novel smoothing techniques, of considerable generality, which in conjunction with modern star catalogues can reproduce the essence of the plate model while dramatically minimizing both the fortuitous and systematic errors of observation. In this paper we demonstrate that, with this technique and extant catalogues, one can obtain, with at least the same precision and better accuracy, the information necessary to transform the measured coordinates successfully into standard coordinates by a process that involves no sophisticated model for the plate. Using external checks we estimate the increase in accuracy to be of the order of 25 per cent.
ISSN:0035-8711
1365-2966
DOI:10.1046/j.1365-8711.1998.01268.x