Evaluating the spatial intra-pixel sensitivity variations and influence based on space observation

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Wang, Peipei, Cao, Zihuang, Liu, Chao, Wei, Peng, Zhang, Xin, Nie, Jialu
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Wang, Peipei
Cao, Zihuang
Liu, Chao
Wei, Peng
Zhang, Xin
Nie, Jialu
author_facet Wang, Peipei
Cao, Zihuang
Liu, Chao
Wei, Peng
Zhang, Xin
Nie, Jialu
contents Intra-pixel sensitivity variations (IPSVs) in charge-coupled devices (CCDs) and complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) detectors constitute a significant source of astrometric error for undersampled stellar observations. Since laboratory-based IPSV measurements suffer from limited applicability, we propose a computational method to directly infer IPSV from stellar images and validate it with simulated data. By minimizing the flux residuals between theoretical and observed stellar models through least-squares fitting, we can successfully recover the IPSV, which is treated as nearly identical across pixels. Simulations demonstrate that the reconstructed IPSV achieves high accuracy, and the instrumental point spread function (IPSF) restored using this IPSV improves stellar centroiding by nearly 30$\times$, effectively eliminating periodic pixel-phase errors. The method remains robust under different morphologies of IPSV and varying sampling conditions. Additionally, the framework can be extended to an iterative IPSF-IPSV closed-loop scheme that updates both components simultaneously, providing a practical pathway for continuous detector calibration in future space-based astronomical surveys.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_10355
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Evaluating the spatial intra-pixel sensitivity variations and influence based on space observation
Wang, Peipei
Cao, Zihuang
Liu, Chao
Wei, Peng
Zhang, Xin
Nie, Jialu
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Intra-pixel sensitivity variations (IPSVs) in charge-coupled devices (CCDs) and complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) detectors constitute a significant source of astrometric error for undersampled stellar observations. Since laboratory-based IPSV measurements suffer from limited applicability, we propose a computational method to directly infer IPSV from stellar images and validate it with simulated data. By minimizing the flux residuals between theoretical and observed stellar models through least-squares fitting, we can successfully recover the IPSV, which is treated as nearly identical across pixels. Simulations demonstrate that the reconstructed IPSV achieves high accuracy, and the instrumental point spread function (IPSF) restored using this IPSV improves stellar centroiding by nearly 30$\times$, effectively eliminating periodic pixel-phase errors. The method remains robust under different morphologies of IPSV and varying sampling conditions. Additionally, the framework can be extended to an iterative IPSF-IPSV closed-loop scheme that updates both components simultaneously, providing a practical pathway for continuous detector calibration in future space-based astronomical surveys.
title Evaluating the spatial intra-pixel sensitivity variations and influence based on space observation
topic Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.10355