Aims: We performed a detailed photometric analysis of the lensed system UM673 (Q0142-100) and an analysis of the tentative lens models. Methods: High-resolution adaptive optics images of UM673 taken with the Subaru telescope in the H band were examin
ed. We also analysed the J, H and K-band observational data of UM673 obtained with the 1.3m telescope at the CTIO observatory. Results: We present photometry of quasar components A and B of UM673, the lens, and the nearby bright galaxy using H-band observational data obtained with the Subaru telescope. Based on the CTIO observations of UM673, we also present J- and H-band photometry and estimates of the J, H and K-band flux ratios between the two UM673 components in recent epochs. The near-infrared fluxes of the A and B components of UM673 and their published optical fluxes are analysed to measure extinction properties of the lensing galaxy. We estimate the extinction-corrected flux ratio between components A and B to be about 2.14 mag. We discuss lens models for the UM673 system constrained with the positions of the UM673 components, their flux ratio, and the previously measured time delay
A method to extract and recognize isolated characters in license plates is proposed. In extraction stage, the proposed method detects isolated characters by using Difference-of-Gaussian (DOG) function, The DOG function, similar to Laplacian of Gaussi
an function, was proven to produce the most stable image features compared to a range of other possible image functions. The candidate characters are extracted by doing connected component analysis on different scale DOG images. In recognition stage, a novel feature vector named accumulated gradient projection vector (AGPV) is used to compare the candidate character with the standard ones. The AGPV is calculated by first projecting pixels of similar gradient orientations onto specific axes, and then accumulates the projected gradient magnitudes by each axis. In the experiments, the AGPVs are proven to be invariant from image scaling and rotation, and robust to noise and illumination change.
We have carried out near-infrared (NIR) imaging observations of the Carina Nebula for an area of ~400 sq. arcmin. including the star clusters Trumpler 14 (Tr 14) and Trumpler 16 (Tr 16). With 10 sigma limiting magnitudes of J ~ 18.5, H ~ 17.5 and K_s
~ 16.5, we identified 544 Class II and 11 Class I young star candidates. We find some 40 previously unknown very red sources with H-K_s > 2, most of which remain undetected at the J band. The red NIR sources are found to be concentrated to the south-east of Tr 16, along the `V shaped dust lane, where the next generation of stars seems to be forming. In addition, we find indications of ongoing star formation near the three MSX point sources, G287.51-0.49, G287.47-0.54, and G287.63-0.72. A handful of red NIR sources are seen to populate around each of these MSX sources. Apart from this, we identified two hard Chandra X-ray sources near G287.47-0.54, one of which does not have an NIR counterpart and may be associated with a Class I/Class 0 object. The majority of the Class II candidates, on the other hand, are seen to be distributed in the directions of the clusters, demarcating different evolutionary stages in this massive star-forming region. A comparison of the color-magnitude diagrams of the clusters with pre-main sequence model tracks shows that the stellar population of these clusters is very young (< 3 Myr). The K_s band luminosity function (KLF) of Tr 14 shows structure at the faint end, including a sharp peak due to the onset of deuterium burning, implying an age of 1-2 Myr for the cluster. The KLF of Tr 16, in contrast, is found to rise smoothly until it turns over. The slopes of the mass functions derived for the clusters are found to be in agreement with the canonical value of the field star initial mass function derived by Salpeter.
