|
. | . |
|
by Staff Writers Llandudno, UK (SPX) Jul 10, 2015
A team of astronomers and computer scientists at the University of Hertfordshire have taught a machine to 'see' astronomical images. The technique, which uses a form of artificial intelligence called unsupervised machine learning, allows galaxies to be automatically classified at high speed, something previously done by thousands of human volunteers in projects like Galaxy Zoo. Masters student Alex Hocking led the new work and presented it for the first time in a paper published July 8 at the National Astronomy Meeting at Venue Cymru, Llandudno, Wales. The team have demonstrated their algorithm using data from the Hubble Space Telescope 'Frontier Fields': exquisite images of distant clusters of galaxies that contain several different types of galaxy. Mr Hocking, who led the new work, commented: "The important thing about our algorithm is that we have not told the machine what to look for in the images, but instead taught it how to 'see'." His supervisor and fellow team member Dr James Geach added: "A human looking at these images can intuitively pick out and instinctively classify different types of object without being given any additional information. We have taught a machine to do the same thing." 'Our aim is to deploy this tool on the next generation of giant imaging surveys where no human, or even group of humans, could closely inspect every piece of data. But this algorithm has a huge number of applications far beyond astronomy, and investigating these applications will be our next step," concludes Geach. The scientists are now looking for collaborators, making good use of the technique in applications like medicine, where it could for example help doctors to spot tumours, and in security, to find suspicious items in airport scans.
Related Links Galaxy Zoo Space Telescope News and Technology at Skynightly.com
|
|
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service. |