Question about computing diffraction patterns

[Ax_xiom]

So I'm using python to compute the fourier transform of a black and white image and the images I've been getting have been different to what I expected.

Input image:

Output FFT:

What I expected:

Image from MinutePhysics's video Why are Stars Star-Shaped?

So why is there a difference?

 

[Ibix]

The aperture of Hubble is round and the spider legs are connected to it. With the aperture function you've drawn you are not modelling the telescope tube at all, just the secondary and its legs floating in empty space. I suspect you have the spider legs too thick as well, although I haven't checked. Try something more like this:

Also remember that numeric computation does a discrete FFT, not a continuous one. Are you padding and block swapping your aperture function before the transform?

 

[Ax_xiom]

Try something more like this:

I tried it and I get this:

Which does have the same general structure as what I'm aiming for, but doesn't "glow" as much

Are you padding and block swapping your aperture function before the transform?

Here is the code I'm using, I'm not sure if it uses block swapping

 

[Ibix]

Blockswapping is what fftshift does. You want the center of the aperture at [0,0] before the FFT.

The page you linked is a generic page about doing FFTs. It would probably help if you posted your actual code. You can use code=python tags like this:

print("Hello world!")

 

[Ax_xiom]

Blockswapping is what fftshift does. You want the center of the aperture at [0,0] before the FFT.

I'll create a new image with the centre at 0,0 so no shifting is required.

The page you linked is a generic page about doing FFTs. It would probably help if you posted your actual code. You can use code=python tags like this:

Here it is:

# fourier_synthesis.py

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

image_filename = "HubbleOutline10.jpg"

def calculate_2dft(input):
    ft = np.fft.ifftshift(input)
    ft = np.fft.fft2(ft)
    return np.fft.fftshift(ft)

# Read and process image
image = plt.imread(image_filename)
image = image[:, :, :3].mean(axis=2)  # Convert to grayscale

plt.set_cmap("gray")

ft = calculate_2dft(image)

plt.subplot(121)
plt.imshow(image)
plt.axis("off")
plt.subplot(122)
plt.imshow(abs(ft)**0.5)
plt.axis("off")
plt.show()