
“I Mapped the Invisible”: An American High-School Student Stuns Scientists by Discovering 1.5 Million Lost Space Objects | AI News Digest
A California high school student, Matteo Paz, has made a remarkable discovery by identifying over 1.5 million previously unknown space objects using AI. His work, stemming from a summer project at Caltech’s Planet Finder Academy, involved analyzing vast data from NASA's NEOWISE telescope. This groundbreaking achievement has been published in The Astronomical Journal, marking a significant contribution to modern astronomy. Paz's AI model effectively detected subtle variations in light from distant cosmic phenomena, which were previously overlooked. Now a paid research assistant at Caltech, he continues to refine his AI pipeline and explore its applications beyond astronomy. This discovery not only showcases his talent but also highlights the potential of interdisciplinary machine learning.