A study of a multi-pinned phase CCD detector for use as a star tracker

This grant has supported studies of the use of charge coupled devices (CCD's) in star trackers in a number of different areas. Among the tasks we have pursued are the following: (1) radiation modeling and the increase in noise equivalent angle as a result of exposure to protons and bremsstrahlung gamma rays; (2) the development of pattern matching software to identify field locations from a CCD image and a pre-existing map of the local area; (3) observations of various stellar fields from the 24 inch telescope at the Offit Observatory at JHU, primarily to test the pattern matching software (these included crowded fields as well as moving objects, like comets); and (4) tracking of very faint objects to determine the faint limit of the CCD system