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Paper: AWAIC: A WISE Astronomical Image Co-adder
Volume: 411, Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XVIII
Page: 67
Authors: Masci, F.; Fowler, J.
Abstract: We describe a new image co-addition tool, AWAIC, to support the creation of a digital image atlas from the multiple frame exposures acquired with the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). AWAIC includes preparatory steps such as frame background matching and outlier detection using robust frame-stack statistics. Frame co-addition is based on using the detector’s Point Response Function (PRF) as an interpolation kernel. This kernel reduces the impact of prior-masked pixels, enables the creation of an optimal matched filtered product for point source detection, and most important, it allows for resolution enhancement (HiRes) to yield a model of the sky that is consistent with the observations to within measurement error. The HiRes functionality allows for non-isoplanatic PRFs, prior noise-variance weighting, uncertainty estimation, and includes a ringing-suppression algorithm. AWAIC also supports the popular overlap-area weighted interpolation method, and is generic enough for use on any astronomical image data that supports the FITS and WCS standards.
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