Photometric and Astrometric Analysis of Gemini/Hokupa’a Galactic Center Adaptive Optics Observations

We have compared three techniques—StarFinder, IDAC (Iterative Deconvolution Algorithm in C), and parametric blind deconvolution (PBD)—for extracting photometry and astrometry of stars in densely crowded field adaptive optics observations, and their point‐spread functions (PSFs). The three algorithms investigated produce very similar results over dynamic ranges of 4 mag, accurately measuring relative photometry to within 0.1 mag for dynamic ranges of 5 mag, as well as astrometry to within 10% of the PSF width. At larger dynamic ranges, the photometry is more dependent upon the field crowding, the signal‐to‐noise ratio, and the algorithm used.