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PSF-Reconstruction

psfr at work!

During the 2025-2026 period, we carried out a project for INAF - Rome Astronomical Observatory involving the development of software based on PSF reconstruction algorithms within the STILES project [*].

The contract involved the development of a procedure (pipeline) for reconstructing the Point Spread Function (PSF) based on inputs provided by the Single Conjugated Adaptive Optics (SCAO) systems of the MICADO instrument and environmental data made available by the ESO's ELT observatory at Cerro Armazones.

We developed the software within the infrastructure called ESO Data Processing System (EDPS). EDPS is designed to execute ESO scientific data processing modules. More specifically, over the course of the contract, we handled various aspects of the data reduction process:

  • We developed the pipeline—written in Python—to interface with the five modules known as 'recipes' (see the following item), which are integrated into an interactive data reduction system. The pipeline was developed based on templates provided by the clients.
  • Each recipe has been developed in C within the Common Pipeline Library (CPL) distributed by ESO. It takes one or more .FITS files (image data cubes or tables) as input and produces one or more files of the same type as output. Each recipe utilizes various functions (see the item below).
  • Each single recipe handles a series of processes known as 'functions' which are also developed in C. During the project, we developed and optimized some of the functions provided by the clients.

The project is currently nearing completion, and the MICADO consortium will make the software publicly available in the near future.

[*] Contract data

  • Title: "Realizzazione di software basato su algoritmi di ricostruzione della PSF, progetto STILES"
  • Funded: The contract was funded by the European Union - NextGenerationEU, Identified by IR0000034, CUP C33C22000640006, CIG B34864DEAC. PNRR Mission 4, Component 2, Investment Line 3.1

Disclaimer

  • This contract was funded by the European Union - NextGenerationEU. However, the views and opinions expressed are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible for them.