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AstroDART: Astronomical Data Analysis and Recovery from Tracklets

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Abstract

AstroDART is a Python package that implements a pipeline for processing, analyzing, and managing files derived from observations performed by ground-based optical telescopes. The main goal is to develop a software capable of retrieving information about satellites’ tracklets. In between its functionalities the following are included: perform astrometric reduction using Astrometry.net, detect tracklets using contour tracing techniques with ASTRiDE Python Package, refine the detected tracklets and perform telescope calibration by comparing the observations of known objects with catalogue data and obtaining the celestial coordinates of the object at the observation epoch. In addition, it produces the light curve and TDM files derived from the observations. The computation times are in the order of 15 s per image when no astrometric reduction is performed, increased to 50 s when the astrometric reduction and light curve analysis are included. The average residuals for both right ascension and declination are found to be lower than 9 arcsecs for all of the three test campaigns.

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Data availability

The data used in the testing campaigns (images of sky surveys) are not currently available for the general public.

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Acknowledgements

The author of this paper would like to acknowledge the crucial support of the Italian Air Force with the invaluable material provided. The numerous images from their telescope observation campaign were key for an adequate algorithm testing phase. Additionally, the author wishes to express its deepest gratitude to Pierluigi Di Lizia, Giovanni Purpura, and Luca Facchini (DAER, Politecnico di Milano) for their support and advice during the developement of this project.

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The author of this research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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  1. Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería, Universidad de Sevilla, Seville, Spain

    Joaquín G. López-Cepero

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  1. Joaquín G. López-Cepero
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Correspondence to Joaquín G. López-Cepero.

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López-Cepero, J.G. AstroDART: Astronomical Data Analysis and Recovery from Tracklets. Aerotec. Missili Spaz. 102, 355–365 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42496-023-00174-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42496-023-00174-5

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