A student discovers 1.5 million stars, gets a knock at his door from the head of NASA with a job offer
The US space agency found in the high school student a future employee at its facilities.
Artificial intelligence has rapidly established itself as a key tool across multiple industries, including astronomy. In one striking case, AI helped a high school student outperform professional researchers at NASA, prompting a swift response from the US space agency.
Matteo Paz, a high school student, identified 1.5 million previously unrecognized celestial objects using artificial intelligence. His work drew the attention of NASA administrator Jared Isaacman, who offered Paz a job and the opportunity to fly in a fighter jet.
Paz relied on AI to analyze publicly available data from NASA’s Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, known as the NEOWISE mission. The mission used an infrared telescope to detect and catalog asteroids and comets with orbits close to Earth, while also collecting extensive data on faint stars and distant galaxies throughout the solar system.
Student spots what others had missed
The NEOWISE dataset, although accessible to researchers for years, had not been fully exploited. Using machine learning techniques, Paz was able to identify patterns and signals that had been overlooked, leading to the discovery of 1.5 million celestial bodies not previously cataloged by the mission’s own scientists.
The finding proved significant enough to bring Paz directly into contact with the world’s leading space agencies and they took note of his findings.
Soon after his discovery had gained attention, NASA restricted access to the NEOWISE mission data, highlighting both the impact of the student’s work and the growing role of artificial intelligence in modern astronomical research. Paz will get the chance to bring his critical thinking and astronomy skills to NASA in the future.
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