A new look at image reconstruction of COMPTEL 1.8 MeV data

Deconvolving COMPTEL gamma-ray data into images presents a major methodolog ical challenge. We developed a new algorithm called Multiresolution Regular ized Expectation Maximization (MREM), which explicitly accounts for spatial correlations in the image by using wavelets (Dixon et al. 1998). We demons trate that MREM largely suppresses image noise in the reconstruction, showi ng only significant structures that are present in the data. Application to 1.8 MeV data results in a sky map that is much smoother than the maximum e ntropy reconstructions presented previously, but it shows the same characte ristic emission features which have been established earlier.