AI Astronomer Aids Effort To Analyze Galaxies

kkleiner writes "Scientists are teaching an artificial intelligence how to classify galaxies imaged by telescopes like the Hubble. Manda Banerji at the University of Cambridge, along with researchers at University College London, Johns Hopkins, and elsewhere, has succeeded in getting the program to agree with human analysis at an impressive rate of more than 90%. Banerji used data from Galaxy Zoo, a massive online project that has used more than 250,000 volunteers to analyze more than 60 million galaxies. The new automated astronomer will help with even larger analytical projects on the horizon, taking care of trivial classifications and leaving the tough cases to humans."

Comments

Re:What's the point?

[$RANDOMLUSER]

Because the farther away they are, the farther back in time we're looking. By collecting images of galaxies at different stages of evolution (and different types of collisions) cosmologists are able to form a much better picture of how galaxies (and the universe in general) form and evolve.