Searching the Sky: Pattern Recognition Search in the Sky

Searching the Sky

Image-recognition software for astronomy pictures brings professional and amateur astronomers together.

Every night, thousands of amateur astronomers in their backyards point digital cameras and telescopes at the same bits of starry sky that professional scientists scan from mountaintop domes. Although both groups collect thousands of images, they rarely use one ­another’s results. While amateurs are more interested in aesthetics, professionals need hard numbers.

In a first step toward ­bridging this divide, a team of ­astronomers and computer scientists has ­created pattern-­recognition software that may provide an easy way for the two groups to ­collaborate by making their astronomical images equally ­searchable

Source: IEEE Spectrum

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