Posted on 12/30/2025 5:43:45 AM PST by Red Badger
Teen Discovers 1.5M Space Objects With AI | Image by Matteo Paz @matteopaz06/X A recently graduated high school student made an artificial intelligence breakthrough using retired NASA data, which led to a public recruitment pitch from the agency’s new administrator on social media, including a fighter jet ride.
The teenager from Pasadena, California, used AI to identify approximately 1.5 million previously unrecognized cosmic objects in archival NASA data. His work went viral on X, capturing the attention of senior space officials. This led to an informal public recruitment pitch from Jared Isaacman, the billionaire entrepreneur recently appointed as NASA administrator.
An astronomy-focused X account posted on December 25 that Matteo Paz, then still a high school student, had uncovered millions of previously unrecognized space objects by applying a custom-built machine learning model to data from NASA’s retired NEOWISE infrared mission.
The post described how Paz analyzed roughly 200 billion infrared records during a research stint at Caltech’s Planet Finder Academy, under the mentorship of astrophysicist Davy Kirkpatrick, and identified faint signals that had been missed during prior human review.
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See new posts Conversation Curiosity @MAstronomers 🚨 A student in the US just discovered MILLIONS of new space objects.
The astronomy world was recently shaken by a discovery from an unexpected source: a teenager still in high school. Matteo Paz, a student from Pasadena, utilized archival data from NASA’s retired NEOWISE mission to bring 1.5 million invisible cosmic objects into the light.
During a stint at Caltech’s Planet Finder Academy, and mentored by astrophysicist Davy Kirkpatrick, Paz took a novel approach to data analysis. He built a unique machine learning model capable of sifting through a staggering 200 billion infrared records. In a span of only six weeks, his AI detected subtle patterns that human analysts had missed, identifying everything from distant quasars to exploding supernovas.
Paz’s findings were so robust that they earned him a spot in the prestigious The Astronomical Journal and a position as a research assistant at Caltech. His work does more than just populate star maps; it provides specific coordinates for the James Webb Space Telescope to investigate further. This breakthrough highlights a growing trend where fresh perspectives and AI tools allow young researchers to make historic scientific impacts from the classroom.
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Isaacman responded publicly on X, writing, “Matteo please apply to work at NASA and I will personally throw in a fighter jet ride as a signing bonus.”
Paz replied the same day with a photo of himself smiling and giving a thumbs up, captioned, “Where do I sign?” The exchange quickly circulated across social media and science news communities.
Matteo please apply to work at NASA and I will personally throw in a fighter jet ride as a signing bonus— Jared Isaacman (@rookisaacman) December 27, 2025
The discoveries attributed to Paz have been widely reported by other outlets, which described his work as leveraging AI to reveal celestial bodies that conventional analysis had overlooked, according to a report published by India Today.
The report said Paz’s findings were published in The Astronomical Journal and led to a research assistant position at Caltech, while also providing coordinates now being used to inform observations by the James Webb Space Telescope.
Paz’s background includes ongoing research roles at Caltech funded by Caltech and NASA, where he has analyzed hundreds of terabytes of astronomical data, according to his LinkedIn. He is also listed as the 2025 first-place winner of the Regeneron Science Talent Search and an incoming undergraduate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Isaacman, who was nominated by President Donald Trump and confirmed earlier this month, wrote on December 18 that as NASA administrator, he intends to “eliminate the bureaucracy that impedes progress and empower the best and brightest,” adding that every scientific breakthrough should inspire the next generation.
That is actually something to stir pride.
Not much ferrous metal in those babies.
it is kinda pretty and should protect us from alien invasion...
For a few minutes anyway..............
It was pretty cool. Double modified Warren trusses in an arch.
Mom happen to having a pasta attachment to her Cuisinart so she could bake spaghetti into perfect, long, uninterrupted, arched chords didn’t hurt.
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