{"id":46819,"date":"2023-11-15T10:27:20","date_gmt":"2023-11-15T15:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/?post_type=news&p=46819"},"modified":"2026-06-18T10:29:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T14:29:24","slug":"new-groundbreaking-method-to-match-celestial-objects-across-telescopes","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/news\/new-groundbreaking-method-to-match-celestial-objects-across-telescopes\/","title":{"rendered":"New groundbreaking method to match celestial objects across telescopes"},"content":{"rendered":"

A team of Johns Hopkins researchers has developed a cutting-edge data science approach capable of matching observations of celestial objects taken across multiple telescope surveys, overcoming a significant challenge in modern astronomy. This new tool has the potential to enhance the accuracy and reliability of astronomical catalogs, opening doors to deeper insights into the universe and its celestial bodies. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The team\u2019s results appear in <\/span>The Astronomical Journal<\/em><\/span><\/a>.<\/em><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMuch of our basic understanding of nature comes from these astronomical observations, so it is important to have accurate and reliable inferences about the properties of space and celestial objects out there from the raw astronomical observations,\u201d said team member <\/span>Tam\u00e1s Budav\u00e1ri<\/a>, an associate professor in the Whiting School of Engineering\u2019s <\/span>Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics<\/a>. \u201cThis new tool is a step toward making those observations more reliable for astronomy studies.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Budav\u00e1ri worked on the study with <\/span>Amitabh Basu<\/a>, a professor of applied mathematics and statistics, and first author Jacob Feitelberg, who was a master\u2019s degree student at Johns Hopkins when the study was conducted.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

T<\/span>he team sought to overcome a fundamental problem in astronomy: Different telescopes capturing multiple exposures of the same sky region under different conditions can provide extra insights but are prone to inaccuracies in measurements. Furthermore, when two or more celestial objects in proximity are measured, observations can become intermingled, presenting a complex computational problem.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To address this challenge, the team used a sophisticated data science approach that involves assigning a \u201cscore\u201d to each pair of observations from two separate surveys. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“For every observation from survey 1 and survey 2, we give this pair a ‘score,’ which measures the likelihood that these observations were of the same celestial object. This likelihood increases if the two observations are closer to each other in terms of their angular distance in the sky and decreases rapidly as the two observations get farther from each other,” explained Basu. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This method effectively matches observations from different surveys to maximize the combined likelihood that they are of the same object, overcoming the computationally difficult task of exhaustively searching through all possible pairings. The researchers say that this breakthrough dramatically speeds up the matching process and can handle vast datasets, making it invaluable for handling large-scale astronomical surveys.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“We managed to outperform previous approaches when it came to finding accurate matches between observations. The previous methods were fast but didn’t consider all possible combinations so they couldn’t guarantee the best matches with the highest likelihoods,\u201d said Budav\u00e1ri. \u201cOur new method, on the other hand, is just as fast but comes with a proven guarantee of accuracy and delivers superior results when applied to real datasets.”\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Team members emphasize that the accuracy and reliability of inferences drawn from astronomical observations are essential for our understanding of the universe.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThese observations are fundamental to building theories about the universe, from the smallest particles to the vast cosmos. By matching observations across time and telescopes, researchers can extract more knowledge from the same data, contributing to a deeper understanding of the cosmos,\u201d Budav\u00e1ri said.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The team said that while the potential of this new method is clear, its broader adoption and integration into astronomical research practices will depend on further validation and consensus within the astronomy community.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, our approach opens exciting possibilities for improving the precision of celestial object matching in astronomy, ultimately enhancing our understanding of the universe,\u201d Basu said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The team intends to further enhance this method to handle a much larger number of surveys, far beyond the current 50 to 100.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhile previous exact methods could handle 10 to 20 catalogs, our new method allows us to process up to 100 catalogs,\u201d said Feitelberg, now a doctoral student at Columbia University. \u201cOur new tool is the first exact method which is fast enough to start using on real-world catalogs.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"template":"","class_list":["post-46819","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry","news_categories-data-science","news_categories-research"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNew groundbreaking method to match celestial objects across telescopes | Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/news\/new-groundbreaking-method-to-match-celestial-objects-across-telescopes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New groundbreaking method to match celestial objects across telescopes | Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A team of Johns Hopkins researchers has developed a cutting-edge data science approach capable of matching observations of celestial objects taken across multiple telescope surveys, overcoming a significant challenge in…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/news\/new-groundbreaking-method-to-match-celestial-objects-across-telescopes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-18T14:29:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Basu-and-Budavari-story-image.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"3322\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2488\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New groundbreaking method to match celestial objects across telescopes | Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/news\/new-groundbreaking-method-to-match-celestial-objects-across-telescopes\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New groundbreaking method to match celestial objects across telescopes | Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics","og_description":"A team of Johns Hopkins researchers has developed a cutting-edge data science approach capable of matching observations of celestial objects taken across multiple telescope surveys, overcoming a significant challenge in…","og_url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/news\/new-groundbreaking-method-to-match-celestial-objects-across-telescopes\/","og_site_name":"Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics","article_modified_time":"2026-06-18T14:29:24+00:00","og_image":[{"width":3322,"height":2488,"url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Basu-and-Budavari-story-image.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/news\/new-groundbreaking-method-to-match-celestial-objects-across-telescopes\/","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/news\/new-groundbreaking-method-to-match-celestial-objects-across-telescopes\/","name":"New groundbreaking method to match celestial objects across telescopes | Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-11-15T15:27:20+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-18T14:29:24+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/news\/new-groundbreaking-method-to-match-celestial-objects-across-telescopes\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/news\/new-groundbreaking-method-to-match-celestial-objects-across-telescopes\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/news\/new-groundbreaking-method-to-match-celestial-objects-across-telescopes\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"New groundbreaking method to match celestial objects across telescopes"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/#website","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/","name":"Hopkins Applied Math & Statistics","description":"Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/46819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}