Artificial Star Test for Crowded Field CCD Photometry

A new method of performing an artificial star test (AST) for crowded field stellar CCD photometry is proposed. This AST method is superior in the cases when it is necessary to account for varying photometric quality across the study field, arising due to crowding variations. For this purpose, the color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) of AST stars with statistically reliable error estimates, as well as completeness maps, can be generated at a required spatial resolution