Pasadena High Schooler Wins Top Science Award for Discovering New Celestial Objects

Regeneron Science Talent Search Win

• 🏆 Matteo Paz, a senior at Pasadena High School, won the top prize of $250,000 in the Regeneron Science Talent Search.
• 💡 He was recognized for his innovative project that combined astronomy with machine learning.

Project: Classifying Celestial Objects

• 🔭 Matteo utilized data from NASA's Wise Space Telescope to identify celestial objects changing in brightness over time.
• 💻 By applying machine learning and infrared data, he discovered new objects in the sky that had not been previously identified.
• ✨ This project led to the creation of the VarWise catalog, which studies variable objects in the night sky.

Scientific Impact and Future Applications

• 🌌 The VarWise catalog can be used by other astrophysicists to study variable objects, measure the universe's expansion, and potentially find habitable exoplanets.
• 🔬 A group at Caltech is already using his catalog to study the masses of certain types of stars.

Matteo's Journey and Future Plans

• 🌠 Matteo has been passionate about astronomy since childhood, inspired by phenomena like supernovae and black holes.
• 🎓 He plans to use his prize money for college and is considering attending Stanford or MIT.
• 🏂 Outside of his scientific pursuits, Matteo enjoys snowboarding, climbing, and spending time with friends.