Estimation and measurement of space-variant features of imaging systems and influence of this knowledge on accuracy of astronomical measurement

Additional monitoring equipment is commonly used in astronomical imaging. This electro-optical system usually complements the main telescope during acquisition of astronomical phenomena or supports its operation e.g. evaluating the weather conditions. Typically it is a wide-field imaging system, which consists of a digital camera equipped with fish-eye lens. The wide-field imaging system cannot be considered as a space-invariant because of space-variant nature of its input lens. In our previous research efforts we have focused on measurement and analysis of images obtained from the subsidiary all-sky monitor WILLIAM (WIde-field aLL-sky Images Analyzing Monitoring system). Space-variant part of this imaging system consists of input lens with 180 fi angle of view in horizontal and 154 fi in vertical direction. For a precise astronomical measurement over the entire field of view, it is very important to know how the optical aberrations affect characteristics of the imaging system, especially its PSF (Point Spread Function). Two methods were used for characterization of the space-variant PSF, i.e. measurement in the optical laboratory and estimation using acquired images and Zernike polynomials. Analysis of results obtained using these two methods is presented in the paper. Accuracy of astronomical measurements is also discussed while considering the space-variant PSF of the system.