Multiframe blind deconvolution with real data: imagery of the Hubble Space Telescope

Abstract

Multiframe blind deconvolution - the process of restoring resolution to blurred imagery when the precise form of the blurs is unknown - is discussed as an estimation-theoretic method for improving the resolving power of ground-based telescopes used for space surveillance. The imaging problem is posed in an estimation-theoretic frame- work whereby the object's incoherent scattering function is estimated through the simultaneous identication and correction of the distorting effects of atmospheric turbulence. An iterative method derived via the expectation-maximization (EM) procedure is reviewed, and results obtained from telescope imagery of the Hubble Space Telescope are presented.