The Comet Project: Image Processing s/k Keith Hawkins Sheena Patel

Objective create a program to filter through images taken from the SOHO satellite and locate comets using MATLAB matrix laboratory Integrated image processing toolbars s

Solar and Heliospheric Observatory SOHO Solar and Heliospheric Observatory k studies the sun and its solar winds 24/7 used images from the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO)

Comets Comets small, irregularly-shaped astronomical bodies mixture of small grains and frozen gases highly eccentric orbits unique structure built of nucleus and tails k

Concepts s

Step 1 load pictures from a directory isolate the date and time from the picture name calculate the time between images store the date, time, and elapsed time for later use s

Step 2 load the images from the directory apply filters to eliminate noise and solar flares and transform the image into a matrix of 0s and 1s 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 s

Step 3 find any white pixels in the images from Step 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 find any white pixels in the images from Step 2 calculate all possible paths between the stars/comets of one image and the stars/comets of the next calculate distances and apply distance and angle constraints 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 k

Step 4 take the possible paths between sets of 2 images and string possible comet trajectories between 4 images apply more distance and angle constraints k

Step 5 take possible trajectories from Step 4 display images with highlighted “comet” k

Step 6 connect the first 5 steps coordinate inputs of each step from the outputs of the previous steps be able to input directory and number of images into Step 6 and end up with the highlighted comets of Step 5 print final comet images s

Comets from May 6, 2001 1 2 Goal s 3 4

Conclusion Conclusion Comets: suite of programs able to find already known comets preliminary analysis shows the program was able to spot a comet found and registered on July 18, 2008 Optimization runs through steps 1-4 in 8 minutes with 103 images steps 4-5 take a considerably longer amount of time k

Applications and Future Work Proposals monitor comets around the sun Proposals for Future Work: less programs increase optimization modification for other purposes

Acknowledgements Previous Members Joey Starnes Daniel Jacobs Ohio Supercomputer Center’s SI Staff Barbara Woodall Elaine Pritchard Dr. B. Alan Chalker II Aaron Lafferty Daniel Eyster Brianna Austin Ohio Supercomputer Center’s SI Sponsors Our Parents and Family

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