High-orbit satellite magnitude estimation using photometric measurement method

The means to get the accurate high-orbit satellite magnitude can be significant in space target surveillance. This paper proposes a satellite photometric measurement method based on image processing. We calculate the satellite magnitude by comparing the output value of camera's CCD between the known fixed star and the satellite. We calculate the luminance value of a certain object on the acquired image using a background-removing method. According to the observation parameters such as azimuth, elevation, height and the situation of the telescope, we can draw the star map on the image, so we can get the real magnitude of a certain fixed star in the image. We derive a new method to calculate the magnitude value of a certain satellite according to the magnitude of the fixed star in the image. To guarantee the algorithm's stability, we evaluate the measurement precision of the method, and analysis the restrict condition in actual application. We have made plenty of experiment of our system using large telescope in satellite surveillance, and testify the correctness of the algorithm. The experimental result shows that the precision of the proposed algorithm in satellite magnitude measurement is 0.24mv, and this method can be generalized to other relative fields.