Detection of Faint Asteroids Based on Image Shifting and Stacking Method

Abstract In order to improve the ability to find the faint and small celestial bodies in the solar system, a method of shifting and stacking images which improves the detection efficiency of faint moving objects is applied to process the sequential optical images. This method determines the existence of moving objects by using the method of false position to pre-estimate the apparent velocities of moving objects, then determines iteratively the accurate positions of moving objects based on the SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio) and elongation of stellar image. Using the sequential images of the China Near Earth Object Survey Telescope (CNEOST), we carry out an experiment and succeed in detecting asteroids fainter than 21 magnitude which are invisible on a single image. Thus, the feasibility of this method is verified.