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Lee Hicks
Department of Physics, Astronomy, and Materials Science
Missouri State University
Advisors: Mike Reed and Lloyd Smith
Abstract
In recent years, sky surveys have provided astronomers with a wealth of data that can be used for such activities as studying stellar evolution and finding extrasolar planets. Unfortunately, such surveys produce more data than astronomers can analyze-a typical observation run of the Baker Observatory Sky Survey (BOSS), for example, yields approximately 3000 images. The goal of the work described here is to automate the initial data processing stages of the BOS Survey, taking raw images from the telescope and producing normalized and synchronized images that are suitable for further analysis. The initial process required manual intervention at each stage of processing, with specialized operating systems and execution of numerous software commands on each image. At this point, a new graphical user interface (GUI) has been built to ease the use of the processing software and to lower the learning curve for new users. The GUI is written in C++ with Qt and depends largely on scripts written in Perl and R Scripts under Linux. The scripts largely automate the process of writing files and executing commands. Human intervention is still required to provide several parameters controlling the process, but the user can now accomplish the task with a few clicks of a mouse.
Lee Hicks is from Conway, MO. He is currently studying Computer Science at Missouri State University. After completing his undergrad he plans to complete his Masters of Natural and Applied Science and complete an additional Computer Science Masters program.
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