Computer simulations of imaging astronomical objects through Kolmogorov turbulence

Abstract

Two-dimensional mathematical modeling and simulations are carried out to observe a reference and a binary star in the absence and presence of a Kolmogorov turbulence via ground-based optical telescopes. This involve the quantitative assessment of the modulation transfer function (MTF) of a reference star, the Fourier magnitude (FM) and the autocorrelation function (AUT) of a binary star. As a result of this assessment a second degree polynomial equation is introduced to describe the average MTF of a reference star and the average FM of an image of a binary star that observed by different telescope diameters. The results also indicate that the height of the secondary peaks of the AUT remain constant despite of the strength of atmospheric turbulence and the diameter of the telescope while the width of these peaks change significantly.