Teen discovers 1.5 million new cosmic objects in groundbreaking AI study

In a remarkable feat of scientific achievement, 17-year-old high school student Matthew Pass has made a breakthrough in the field of astronomy by developing an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm that discovered 1.5 million previously unknown cosmic objects.

The research, which was published in The Astronomical Journal (TAJ), highlights the potential of machine learning in analyzing vast astronomical datasets.

Pass's breakthrough began with his analysis of data from the NEOWISE telescope, which has been scanning the sky for over a decade in search of asteroids. In addition to asteroids, the telescope also records variable objects such as quasars, erupting stars, and binary systems. However, the data remained largely unused due to its massive scale—around 200 billion rows of information.

Using machine learning skills learned in his high school courses, Pass created an algorithm capable of detecting even the faintest fluctuations in brightness, uncovering millions of objects that had been overlooked by previous methods. This achievement not only promises to advance the study of the cosmos but also demonstrates the power of AI in data analysis.

In 2025, Pass, along with his mentor Dr. Dave Kirkpatrick from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), plans to release a complete catalog of variable objects discovered through their method. The algorithm has already drawn the interest of professional astronomers, and Pass envisions its application beyond astronomy—suggesting it could be used to analyze stock market trends or climate data.

By Khagan Isayev