Deeper detection limits in astronomical imaging using self-supervised spatiotemporal denoising

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2602.17205v1
• Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2026 09:51:35 GMT
• Title: Deeper detection limits in astronomical imaging using self-supervised spatiotemporal denoising
• Authors: Yuduo Guo, Hao Zhang, Mingyu Li, Fujiang Yu, Yunjing Wu, Yuhan Hao, Song Huang, Yongming Liang, Xiaojing Lin, Xinyang Li, Jiamin Wu, Zheng Cai, Qionghai Dai,
• Abstract summary: We present an astronomical transformer-based denoising algorithm (ASTERIS) that integrates information across multiple exposures.<n>ASTERIS improves detection limits by 1.0 at 90% completeness and purity, while preserving the point spread function and photometric accuracy.<n>Applying to deep JWST images, ASTERIS identifies three times more redshift > 9 galaxy candidates, with rest-frame ultraviolet luminosity 1.0 magnitude fainter, than previous methods.
• Score: 28.1551752436114
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Abstract: The detection limit of astronomical imaging observations is limited by several noise sources. Some of that noise is correlated between neighbouring image pixels and exposures, so in principle could be learned and corrected. We present an astronomical self-supervised transformer-based denoising algorithm (ASTERIS), that integrates spatiotemporal information across multiple exposures. Benchmarking on mock data indicates that ASTERIS improves detection limits by 1.0 magnitude at 90% completeness and purity, while preserving the point spread function and photometric accuracy. Observational validation using data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and Subaru telescope identifies previously undetectable features, including low-surface-brightness galaxy structures and gravitationally-lensed arcs. Applied to deep JWST images, ASTERIS identifies three times more redshift > 9 galaxy candidates, with rest-frame ultraviolet luminosity 1.0 magnitude fainter, than previous methods.

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