Stellar Object Detection Using the Wavelet Transform

Abstract

Several algorithms are used nowadays for detecting stellar objects in astronomical images, for example in the DAOPHOTprogram package and in SExtractor (Software for source extraction). Our team has become acquainted with the wavelet transform and its good localization properties. After studying the manual for DAOPHOT and SExtractor, and becoming familiar with the  trous algorithm used for calculating the wavelet transform, we set ourselves the task to implement an algorithm for star detection on the basis of the wavelet transform. We focused on detecting stellar objects in complex fields, such as globular clusters and galaxies. This paper describes a stellar object detection algorithm with the help ofthe wavelet transform, and presents our results.