ESO photometric and astrometric analysis program for AO: A programmatic and numerical analysis

The European Southern Observatory is currently developing an array of software analysis packages to perform Photometry and Astrometry (P&A) on both stellar and diffuse objects observed with Adaptive Optics (AO) Systems. As they are complete, the component programs of ESO-PAPAO will be made available to AO observers using ADONIS on the 3.6 meter telescope at La Silla and, later, those using the various AO systems being developed for the 8.2 meter VLT telescopes at Paranal, such as NAOS-CONICA and MACAO-SINFONI. The performances of the ESO-PAPAO package are being extensively quantified; both to support their use in astrophysical analysis and as a guide for the definition of AO observing programs. The algorithms are being developed in IDL. A user interface allows immediate access to the ESO-PAPAO by observers not familiar with IDL. We will describe the objectives of the ESO-PAPAO; the calibrated ADONIS data sets that have been collected for distribution to contributors to the ESO-PAPAO program, and the methods and results of numerical tests of photometric precision in comparisons of the various different analysis packages. In particular, the STARFINDER program, developed at the University of Bologna in a collaborative effort with ESO, has been applied to data from ADONIS at La Silla, UHAO at Mauna Kea, and HST. Results from the analysis of this astronomical AO data will be presented - photometric precision of 0.02 to 0.05 magnitudes, and astrometric precision of approximately 0.1 pixel in crowded fields with strong isoplanatic effects.