create a program to filter through images taken from the SOHO satellite and locate comets using MATLAB

matrix laboratory Integrated image processing toolbars

studies the sun and its solar winds 24/7

used images from the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO)

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

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

00000000000100 01000000000000 00010100000000 00100000010000 10000100000000 00000000000001 00010000000000 00000010000000 01000000001000 00001000000000

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

000000000001000 100000000000000 000100000000001 000000100001000 010000000000000 000000001000100 000000000000001 000000001000000 001000000010000

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

000000000010001 000000000000000 001000000000010 000001000010000 100000000000000 000000010001000 000000000000010 000000010000000 010000000100000

calculate distances and apply distance and angle constraints

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

take possible trajectories from Step 4 display images with highlighted comet

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

Comets from May 6, 2001

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

Applications: monitor comets around the sun

Proposals for Future Work: less programs increase optimization modification for other purposes

Previous Members Joey Starnes

Daniel Jacobs
Ohio Supercomputer Centers SI Staff Barbara Woodall Elaine Pritchard Dr. B. Alan Chalker II Aaron Lafferty

Daniel Eyster
Brianna Austin Ohio Supercomputer Centers SI Sponsors Our Parents and Family