Towards First Light for MICADO: Validation of the PSF-R service with real data
Abstract
MICADO, one of the ELT first-light instruments, will rely on point-spread-function reconstruction (PSF-R) to meet scientific requirements, especially for SCAO observations of targets that lack bright reference stars nearby. PSF-R will be performed in post-processing using only AO telemetry, recorded simultaneously with the science data. For SCAO observations, both on- and off-axis PSFs will be delivered. We present the current status and results from an ESO TTR campaign begun in 2023, targeting a sparse three-star asterism under varying conditions with the ERIS instrument at VLT. Reconstructed PSFs reach ~10% accuracy in Strehl ratio and FWHM at separations up to half the size of the isoplanatic patch. The current results suggest the telemetry-driven approach can reproduce not only the core PSF structure but also the extended wings, which are essential for reliable photometry and morphological analysis of bright extended sources. The obtained results also corroborate the key role of wind as a limiting factor of the method, reducing the amount of recovered information on specific directions.
Versions
Related
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BibTeX
@misc{simioni2026towards,
title = {{Towards First Light for MICADO: Validation of the PSF-R service with real data}},
author = {Matteo Simioni and Luca Cortese and Roland Wagner and Carmelo Arcidiacono and Andrea Grazian and Marco Gullieuszik and Elena Masciadri and Elisa Portaluri and Benedetta Vulcani and Anita Zanella and Richard Davies and Johanna Hartke and Roberto Piazzesi and Stefan Raffetseder and Piero Vaccari},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.11594},
eprint = {2609.11594},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.11594},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Towards First Light for MICADO: Validation of the PSF-R service with real data
AU - Matteo Simioni
AU - Luca Cortese
AU - Roland Wagner
AU - Carmelo Arcidiacono
AU - Andrea Grazian
AU - Marco Gullieuszik
AU - Elena Masciadri
AU - Elisa Portaluri
AU - Benedetta Vulcani
AU - Anita Zanella
AU - Richard Davies
AU - Johanna Hartke
AU - Roberto Piazzesi
AU - Stefan Raffetseder
AU - Piero Vaccari
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/10
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.11594
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.11594
AB - MICADO, one of the ELT first-light instruments, will rely on point-spread-function reconstruction (PSF-R) to meet scientific requirements, especially for SCAO observations of targets that lack bright reference stars nearby. PSF-R will be performed in post-processing using only AO telemetry, recorded simultaneously with the science data. For SCAO observations, both on- and off-axis PSFs will be delivered. We present the current status and results from an ESO TTR campaign begun in 2023, targeting a sparse three-star asterism under varying conditions with the ERIS instrument at VLT. Reconstructed PSFs reach ~10% accuracy in Strehl ratio and FWHM at separations up to half the size of the isoplanatic patch. The current results suggest the telemetry-driven approach can reproduce not only the core PSF structure but also the extended wings, which are essential for reliable photometry and morphological analysis of bright extended sources. The obtained results also corroborate the key role of wind as a limiting factor of the method, reducing the amount of recovered information on specific directions.
ER -