10.1364/AO.555865">
 

Investigation of Varying Telescope Array Spacing for Shadow Imaging Reconstruction from Partial Diffraction Patterns

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-13-2025

Abstract

Shadow imaging is an established astronomical observation technique that reconstructs silhouettes of distant space objects (like asteroids) from the object’s diffraction pattern, which is present in the shadow of the object as the object passes between the observer and a star. The application of this technique as a low-cost method to obtain fine-resolution silhouette images of satellites in the geosynchronous belt using a linear array of commercial off-the-shelf telescopes is referred to as synthetic-aperture silhouette imaging (SASI). This research shows that a SASI array may be constructed with up to three aperture diameter spaces between telescopes, where each space is the same size as the telescopes while maintaining sub-meter resolution. Similarly, a SASI array made up of 25% of telescopes spaced intermittently may achieve similar sub-meter resolution. This research informs the design trade-offs for an operational array.  Abstract © Optica.

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The "Link to Full Text" on this page opens or saves the Accepted Manuscript version of the article, furnished by CHORUS after an embargo, and hosted at the publisher's site.  The version of record is available by subscription from the DOI link below.

This article is part of the Applied Optics Institutional Focus Issue of Applied Optics, Air Force Institute of Technology

Author note: Douglas Ruyle currently at Johns-Hopkins University

Source Publication

Applied Optics (ISSN 1559-128X | eISSN 2155-3165)

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