Latest news with #NEOWISE
Forbes
01-05-2025
- Science
- Forbes
From Comet SWAN To Halley's Meteors: May 2025's Stargazing Highlights
May will feature a rare comet brushing past the Pleiades. May 2025 will be packed with spectacular sights for stargazers — and the action gets underway immediately. The final month before dark skies become scarce close to the solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, May will feature a rare comet brushing past the Pleiades, Mars close to the sparkling Beehive Cluster, 'shooting stars' from Halley's Comet, and the rise of the Flower Moon. All some planetary alignments and even a celestial 'smiley face' and the warmer nights and longer twilights are set to stun. Here's everything you need to know about stargazing in May 2025. When: 45 minutes after sunset on Thursday, May 1, 2025 Where: west Following the memorable appearance of NEOWISE in 2020 and A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS late last year, enter C/2025 F2 (SWAN). First spotted in late March, it's now set to put on a brief but spectacular show. Reaching its closest point to the Sun on May 1, this 5th-magnitude comet will glow low in the western sky just after sunset. Adding to the spectacle, it will appear near the Pleiades star cluster that same evening. But hurry because by May 7, this comet will have dipped below the horizon for Northern Hemisphere observers. Saturn in the Beehive Star Cluster, also known as Messier 44 or NGC 2632. When: after dark on Saturday, May 3, 2025 Where: south Although the Moon is just about half-illuminated tonight and not in its most photogenic phase, it's worth finding tonight. Look to the southern sky to find it near both Mars and the Beehive Cluster (M44), one of the closest open star clusters to the solar system. The exact lineup varies by location, but skywatchers across the globe will see this trio impress. When: early hours of Tuesday, May 6, 2025 Where: all-sky Tonight's meteor shower traces its origin to Halley's Comet, which left behind a trail of debris that turns to 'shooting stars' each May. The Eta Aquariids peak in the pre-dawn hours of May 6, with rates of 10 to 20 meteors per hour possible under clear skies. Peaks are broad, so the show could start as early as Monday night, and be patient — meteor watching rewards those who wait. The Flower Moon rises one day after being full above the skyline of lower Manhattan and One World ... More Trade Center in New York City on May 27, 2021 as seen from Verona, New Jersey. (Photo by) When: during dusk on Monday, May 12, 2025 Where: east May's full moon, the 'Flower Moon,' will be best seen this evening as it rises. As dusk settles in, look to the southeastern horizon for a warm orange orb climbing into view. That orange tint, caused by Earth's atmosphere (the physics is just like a sunset), will last only about 15 minutes before becoming too bright to look at as it rises into the sky to shine all night long, setting at sunrise. When: Wednesday, May 28, 2025 Where: west-northwest As the crescent moon waxes, it inches eastward in the twilight sky, tonight joining Jupiter. Just 5%-lit, the moon will appear just above the gas giant planet in the west-northwest shortly after sunset. Earthshine may be visible, subtly lighting up the moon's shadowed half. Thursday, May 29: 'Smiley Face' Moon In Gemini When: Thursday, May 29, 2025 Where: west Look west about 45 minutes after sunset for a smiley face in the sky. A slim crescent moon, just 12% lit, forms a curved 'mouth' beneath the twin stars Castor and Pollux in the constellation Gemini, creating a nice arrangement that will be very easy to spot. The times and dates given apply to mid-northern latitudes. For the most accurate location-specific information, consult online planetariums like Stellarium. Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
High Schooler Uncovers 1.5 Million Hidden Objects in Space, Wins $250K
High school student Matteo Paz has stunned the scientific community by identifying 1.5 million previously unknown objects in space. By creating an artificial intelligence algorithm, Paz found a way to sift through vast amounts of space data and uncover millions of cosmic objects hiding in plain sight. His work didn't just impress scientists; it earned him the top prize at the 2025 Regeneron Science Talent Search — a $250,000 award that goes to the most promising young scientists in the U.S. It all started during Caltech's Planet Finder Academy in 2022. The summer outreach program is designed to give high schoolers hands-on experience in astronomy, and Paz was hooked. The following year, he signed up for a six-week Caltech program that pairs students with campus mentors. Paz was assigned to Davy Kirkpatrick. "The first day I talked to him, I said that I was considering working on a paper to come out of this, which is a much larger goal than six weeks," said Paz. "He didn't discourage me. He said, 'OK, so let's talk about that.' He has allowed an unbridled learning experience. I think that's why I've grown so much as a scientist.' With encouragement from Kirkpatrick, Paz tasked himself with a daunting challenge: How do you process and make sense of nearly 200 terabytes of space data gathered by NASA's NEOWISE (Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) telescope? NEOWISE has been scanning the sky for asteroids for over a decade. At the same time, it has captured data on other variable objects. According to Caltech, these are 'hard-to-catch phenomena like quasars, exploding stars, and paired stars eclipsing each other.' The NASA telescope was able to detect the varying heat of these objects, but the sheer size of the dataset made it impossible for human astronomers to comb through them. With almost 200 billion rows of data, going through it by hand was never an option, and Paz never considered it. The 18-year-old had a knack for AI, coding, and computer science. Combining this with his substantial math knowledge (he has been studying advanced undergraduate math for the last few years), he created an AI model to sift through the data for him. In the short six-week program, he began using machine learning to make an AI model that could recognize patterns in the infrared data — subtle signals that might indicate the presence of cosmic objects. Kirkpatrick acted as an astronomy consultant and helped him interpret the data. The duo kept working on the project after the six weeks were up. By 2024, Paz was mentoring other high school students on the subject. Now the model can tear through the raw data from the NEOWISE telescope. They have made a jaw-dropping 1.5 million discoveries, each a potential new clue about the structure and history of our universe. Since winning the 2025 Regeneron Science Talent Search, Paz hasn't slowed down. He and Kirkpatrick hope to publish the complete catalog of newly found objects this year. Paz has also secured his first paid job. He is working at Caltech, continuing his research and collaborating with astrophysicists on how to scale his AI system for even bigger projects.
Yahoo
13-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
US high school student's AI identifies 1.5 million previously unknown space objects
A high school student from the US has discovered a whopping 1.5 million cosmic objects in space, which were previously unknown, using AI. Matteo (Matthew) Paz developed a new AI algorithm identify the objects while undertaking a research project as part of the Planet Finder Academy outreach program offered at California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Paz's article in The Astronomical Journal outlines the AI algorithm he developed, which can be used by other researchers. His interest in astronomy began in grade school, inspired by public stargazing lectures his mother took him to at Caltech. In the summer of 2022, Paz joined the Planet Finder Academy led by professor of astronomy Andrew Howard, where he studied astronomy and computer science. During the program, he was mentored by Caltech's Infrared Processing and Analysis Center senior scientist Davy Kirkpatrick, whose guidance helped Paz take on an ambitious research project that ultimately led to a published paper. Kirkpatrick, who grew up in a farming town in Tennessee, was inspired to pursue astronomy thanks to a supportive high school science teacher who encouraged his potential and helped him plan for college. The scientist was motivated to offer the same kind of mentorship that had once shaped his own path, helping young researchers realize their potential. Kirkpatrick also saw an opportunity to extract deeper insights from Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE), the retired infrared telescope that spent over a decade scanning the sky for asteroids and other near-Earth objects. Beyond tracking asteroids, NASA's NEOWISE telescope also recorded heat signals from distant cosmic objects that brightened, dimmed, or pulsed—phenomena known as variables, including quasars, exploding stars, and eclipsing binaries. Much of this data remained untapped. By identifying these objects, researchers could build a catalog that sheds light on how such celestial phenomena change over time. With Paz on board, the approach quickly shifted. Instead of combing through the data manually, Paz applied his background in AI—shaped by an elective combining coding, theoretical computer science, and formal math—to Kirkpatrick's study. Trained through Pasadena Unified's Math Academy, where students reach AP Calculus BC by eighth grade, Paz had the skills to turn NEOWISE's massive dataset into a training ground for machine learning. Determined to tackle the challenge at hand, Paz developed a machine-learning technique to analyze the entire NEOWISE dataset and flag potential variable objects. In just six weeks, he drafted an AI model that showed promise. Along the way, he consulted with Kirkpatrick to gain insights into the relevant astronomy and astrophysics. Last year, Paz and Kirkpatrick reunited to continue their research. With Paz now mentoring other high school students, the young researcher has refined the AI model to process the raw NEOWISE data and analyze the results. The model, trained to detect subtle variations in the telescope's infrared measurements, identified and classified 1.5 million potential new objects. In 2025, Paz and Kirkpatrick plan to publish a comprehensive catalog of objects that showed significant brightness changes in the NEOWISE data. According to Paz, the model he developed can be applied to time-domain studies in astronomy and any field involving temporal data. "I could see some relevance to (stock market) chart analysis, where the information similarly comes in a time series and periodic components can be critical. You could also study atmospheric effects such as pollution, where the periodic seasons and day-night cycles play huge roles,' Paz, now an employee at Caltech, added.
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
An 18-year-old won $250,000 for discovering over a million objects in space. Some could help unravel one of the universe's biggest mysteries
High schooler Matteo Paz won $250,000 for discovering 1.5 million new space objects with AI. Paz built an AI algorithm to search data from a NASA space telescope for objects like black holes. His discoveries could help solve one of the universe's biggest mysteries. When Matteo Paz scored a high school internship at the California Institute of Technology, the scientists there gave him the daunting task of manually sorting reams of data from a NASA mission. It was "classic intern work," Paz, an 18-year-old from Pasadena, California, told Business Insider. "The very menial, tedious, dirty tasks that require a lot of time." Instead of manually sifting through the data, Paz built an AI algorithm to do it for him. Ultimately, he discovered 1.5 million new objects in space, including supernovae and supermassive black holes. On Tuesday, he won $250,000 in the Regeneron Science Talent Search for his efforts. Every year the competition casts a net across the nation for high schoolers doing the type of research you might expect from graduate students. This year Paz snagged first place out of nearly 2,500 entrants. "Surprised isn't a strong enough word," Paz said shortly after the award ceremony. "I didn't even give a thought to what I'd say to people if I'd won." The objects in Paz's catalog aren't just plain old stars or planets. They're all variable objects, meaning they change dramatically, violently, and often unpredictably. A black hole, for example, can emit powerful jets that vary in brightness depending on how much material it's gobbling up or how fast it's spinning. That makes these objects a wealth of information about some of the universe's most befuddling mysteries. For example, they can be used to measure how quickly the universe is expanding from the Big Bang — a puzzle scientists are still trying to solve, which could rewrite physics. Most of the objects Paz discovered are "candidates," meaning further study is required for scientists to confirm what Paz's analysis suggests they are. Luckily, astronomers are already digging into his catalog. Paz needed his machine-learning algorithm to comb through nearly 200 terabytes of data from a 10-year infrared survey of the entire sky by NASA's NEOWISE space telescope. Looking in the infrared — wavelengths invisible to the human eye — the NEOWISE mission searched for asteroids and comets near Eart. Infrared wavelengths, however, can also reveal objects deep in space that are shrouded in interstellar dust. Even though NEOWISE wasn't designed to look for such objects, Paz thought he could tease them out of the data with his AI algorithm. "Prior to Matteo's work, no one had tried to use the entire (200-billion-row) table to identify and classify all of the significant variability that was there," Davy Kirkpatrick, who was Paz's mentor at Caltech, told BI in an email. Other surveys had tried to comb through NEOWISE data for specific types of variable objects, he added. At the end of the summer program, "we were so impressed with his results that we hired him part-time at Caltech to finish the catalog," Kirkpatrick said. Paz said a lot of that work was him "in a dark room, eye bags heavy, looking at my computer, trying to solve a bug." Sometimes he worked out math problems on a whiteboard at Caltech. He also consulted a variety of astrophysicists and astronomers. Once the algorithm was ready though, it blew him away. In order to analyze all 200 terabytes of data, Paz divided up the data into 13,000 equal parts. The algorithm analyzed miniscule changes in infrared radiation to identify variable space objects and sort them into different classes, such as black holes or double-star systems. In some constellations, the algorithm was discovering more objects than anticipated. "That was where I first started to see a lot of promise in the project," Paz said. In the end, he surveyed over 450 million objects in the sky and identified 1.9 million that may be variable objects like black holes or supernovae. Of those, 1.5 million had never been cataloged before — they were new discoveries. "It's very beautiful. Not just that number — it's a big number that obviously makes you proud — but when you visualize the data," Paz said. Here's that visualization, plotting all the candidate objects he discovered: "You can see the Milky Way, you can see satellite galaxies, you can see Andromeda, you can see star-forming regions," Paz said. "Even though it's a very one-dimensional view of the universe, just plotting a point at every discovery we've made, we can really see the intricacies and the glory of the night sky." Now an infrared research group at Caltech is already using his catalog, called VarWISE, to study dual-star systems in the distant universe. They've already found dozens of star systems in VarWISE that weren't previously detected, Kirkpatrick said. He added that the research helps them calculate the mass of distant alien planets. Paz is submitting the catalog for publication in the Astrophysical Journal later this year. The catalog has not yet gone through the peer-review process, but the algorithm itself was peer-reviewed and published in the Astronomical Journal in November. "The variable candidates that he's uncovered will be widely studied and illustrate the enduring value of astronomical surveys," Amy Mainzer, a scientist who led the NEOWISE mission, told BI in an email. "It's clear that he is simply a unique talent — smart, hardworking, and with a crazy ability to assimilate newfound knowledge into new ideas for studying the universe," Kirkpatrick said. As for Paz and his $250,000, the next frontier is college. He said he's been accepted at Stanford University, and is keeping his mind open about potential career paths. Just weeks before flying to Washington, DC for the awards ceremony, Paz woke up in his Pasadena home to see flames outside the window. The Eaton fire traveled so quickly that he had received no official warning. After evacuations and several days of fire, his family's home was spared. "It really gives you a new perspective," he said. "I have a new appreciation for the problems that I have the privilege not to worry about." Now he's pondering the possibility of putting an infrared telescope into Earth orbit — this time to monitor Earth itself for emerging fires. More immediately, though, Paz wants to use his NEOWISE findings to study the elusive expansion rate of the universe, starting from the Big Bang, and hopefully help scientists solve the biggest mystery in cosmology. "It will either contribute to the resolution of a very contentious topic in current research, or it's going to reveal something truly foundational about the origins of the universe," Paz said. Read the original article on Business Insider
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Regeneron Science Talent Search 2025 Awards More Than $1.8 Million to High School Seniors for Innovative Research on Classifying Celestial Objects, Treating a Rare Muscle Disease and Solving a Long-Standing Math Problem
$250,000 top award goes to Matteo Paz in America's longest running and most distinguished science and math competition TARRYTOWN, N.Y. and WASHINGTON, March 11, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Society for Science (the Society) announced that Matteo Paz, 18, of Pasadena, California, won the top award of $250,000 in the 2025 Regeneron Science Talent Search, the U.S.'s oldest and most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors. Now in its 84th year, the competition celebrates and rewards young innovators who are applying their Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) talent and leadership skills to push the boundaries of discovery and address today's pressing challenges. Forty finalists, including Matteo, were honored this evening during an award ceremony at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C, where they were awarded more than $1.8 million in prizes for their groundbreaking research, exceptional problem-solving skills and potential to shape the future of STEM. Matteo Paz, 18, of Pasadena, California, won first place and $250,000 for designing machine-learning algorithms to efficiently comb through 200 billion entries of raw NEOWISE infrared full-sky data. By analyzing tiny changes in infrared radiation, the AI sorted the objects into 10 classes. He found 1.5 million new potential objects. Second place and $175,000 went to Ava Grace Cummings, 18, of Smithfield, North Carolina, for creating a fruit fly model of STAC3 disorder, or Native American myopathy (a rare genetic muscle disease). She found that the common nettle herb, alone or combined with the experimental drug Tirasemtiv, improved movement in both adult flies and larvae. Third place and $150,000 went to Owen Jianwen Zhang, 18, of Bellevue, Washington, who solved a long-standing math problem about objects called 3-uniform hypergraphs. He proved a maximum value for how many 3-uniform hypergraphs can have similar structures but differing connections. Owen's results have applications in computer science. "Congratulations to the winners of this year's Regeneron Science Talent Search," said Maya Ajmera, President and CEO, Society for Science and Executive Publisher, Science News. "The remarkable creativity and dedication of these students bring renewed hope for our future. Driven by their ingenuity, these young scientists are developing groundbreaking solutions that have the potential to transform our world and propel society forward." The Regeneron Science Talent Search provides a national platform for high school seniors to showcase original, innovative STEM research that proposes novel solutions to real-world issues. Finalists are evaluated for their scientific rigor, originality, critical thinking, leadership potential and commitment to drive meaningful impact across crucial STEM fields. "The Science Talent Search changed my life. At my high school, STS winners were treated like star athletes, and I never imagined I would belong in such an amazing group of kids who were operating at a whole different level than I had ever seen," said George D. Yancopoulos, co-Founder, Board co-Chair, President and Chief Scientific Officer of Regeneron and a 1976 Science Talent Search finalist and top winner. "The experience of competing in STS and being named a top winner gave me the confidence to devote my life to science. So, congratulations to this year's finalists and winners, you are America's best and brightest. I hope this moment inspires you to push boundaries, challenge assumptions and use your brilliance to change the world." Other top honors from the competition include: Fourth Place: Logan Lee, 18, of Honolulu, Hawaii received a $100,000 award for helping sterile male mosquitoes survive in the wild. These males are important in mosquito control. Logan improved their survival by giving them a transplant of wild mosquito bacteria. His transplant helped the sterile mosquitoes grow faster and survive better in the wild. Fifth Place: Rivka Lipkovitz, 18, of San Francisco, California received a $90,000 award for using statistical modeling to study U.S. voter ID laws. She found that presidential election turnout dropped by 2.4% in states that passed strict laws after 2008. Turnout for midterm elections increased. Knowing how laws affect turnout can help shape future policies. Sixth Place: Melody Heeju Hong, 17, of Wantagh, New York received a $80,000 award for developing a powerful, flexible statistical model for mapping sites called trans-methylation quantitative trait loci (trans-mQTL) within the human genome. These sites are key to understanding the interplay between genes and environment in disease and aging. Seventh Place: Kevin Shen, 18, of Olympia, Washington received a $70,000 award for building a custom flight computer to control a 3D-printed airplane with oblique wings. These aircraft can be more fuel-efficient but are hard to control. His oblique-wing aircraft and flight computer improved flight efficiency by 9.2%. Eighth Place: Minghao Zou, 18, of Santa Clara, California received a $60,000 award for simulating protons to probe environments that produce subatomic particles called neutrinos. He created an algorithm mimicking extreme astrophysical conditions, such as electromagnetic and gravitational forces and interactions with nearby particles. He verified it using known cases of particle motion. Ninth Place: Thanush Patlolla, 17, of Cary, North Carolina received a $50,000 award for approximating the density of electrons using a finite nuclear model. Using a mathematical strategy called a density function, he created a model to map electrons in a nuclear simulation. The map increased the accuracy of energy distribution predictions by 0.6%. Tenth Place: Ray Zhang, 17, of Chantilly, Virginia received a $40,000 award for studying how to better treat drug-resistant Fusarium fungal infections. Ray studied how the fungus builds sticky communities of cells that resist drug treatment. He also found that using a combination of drugs better controlled the fungus. Akilan Sankaran, 17, of Albuquerque, New Mexico was named the Seaborg Award winner and selected to speak on behalf of the Regeneron Science Talent Search Class of 2025. The 40 finalists chose Akilan as the student who best exemplifies their class and the legacy of nuclear chemist Glenn T. Seaborg, who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1951 and served on the Society's Board of Trustees for 30 years. All other finalists received $25,000. All 40 finalists join a distinguished group of Science Talent Search alumni, many of whom have gone on to achieve world-changing careers in STEM, with some earning esteemed honors, including the Nobel Prize, National Medal of Science, and MacArthur Fellowship. In total, Regeneron awarded $3.1 million in prizes, including $2,000 to each top scholar and their school. Learn more about Regeneron Science Talent Search at and learn about all their research projects at our Virtual Public Showcase. For media resources, visit About Society for Science Society for Science is a champion for science, dedicated to promoting the understanding and appreciation of science and the vital role it plays in human advancement. Established in 1921, Society for Science is best known for its award-winning journalism through Science News and Science News Explores, its world-class science research competitions for students, including the Regeneron Science Talent Search, the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair and the Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge, and its outreach and equity programming that seeks to ensure that all students have an opportunity to pursue a career in STEM. A 501(c)(3) membership organization, Society for Science is committed to inform, educate and inspire. Learn more at and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat (Society4Science). About Regeneron Regeneron (NASDAQ: REGN) is a leading biotechnology company that invents, develops and commercializes life-transforming medicines for people with serious diseases. Founded and led by physician-scientists, our unique ability to repeatedly and consistently translate science into medicine has led to numerous approved treatments and product candidates in development, most of which were homegrown in our laboratories. Our medicines and pipeline are designed to help patients with eye diseases, allergic and inflammatory diseases, cancer, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, hematologic conditions, infectious diseases and rare diseases. Regeneron believes that operating as a good corporate citizen is crucial to delivering on our mission. We approach corporate responsibility with three goals in mind: to improve the lives of people with serious disease, to foster a culture of integrity and excellence and to build sustainable communities. Regeneron is proud to be included on the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index and the Civic 50 list of the most "community-minded" companies in the U.S. Throughout the year, Regeneron empowers and supports employees to give back through our volunteering, pro-bono and matching gift programs. Our most significant philanthropic commitments are in the area of science education, including the Regeneron Science Talent Search and the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). For more information, please visit or follow Regeneron on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook or X. Media ContactsJoseph Brown, Regeneron386-283-1323, Gayle Kansagor, Society for Science703-489-1131, gkansagor@ View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Society for Science
