Artificial intelligence sharpens the view into space

In their search for distant galaxies, rapidly rotating neutron stars and black holes, radio astronomers are collecting an ever-increasing amount of data, which will require greater use of artificial intelligence for analysis.

To this end, eight institutions in the North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) region of Germany, led by the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR) in Bonn, have joined forces in an “NRW Cluster for Data-Intensive Radio Astronomy: Big Bang to Big Data” to combine radio astronomy and data science. NRW is funding the project with up to €3m.

Radio astronomers look deep into the Universe with increasingly sophisticated observation methods, generating data at ever-faster growing rates. “In the next generation of radio telescopes, data will be generated at rates comparable to all of today’s internet traffic,” says MPIfR Director Prof. Michael Kramer.

Scientists are looking for new ways to cope with this flood of data. “Diligence and powerful computers are no longer sufficient,” says Prof. Frank Bertoldi from the University of Bonn. “Instead, machine learning and artificial intelligence will help researchers in the future to filter out the exciting signals of the Universe from the flood of data.”

The essential purpose of the alliance is to network knowledge and better coordinate the activities of radio astronomers, data scientists and industry. It provides a concerted effort to strengthen research and education, as well as the transfer of knowledge to practical applications through the exchange with industry partners.

Aerial view of MPIfR’s Effelsberg radio observatory with two telescopes, the 100-m parabolic dish (top center) and the Effelsberg LOFAR station (bottom right).

CREDIT: MPIfR (Photo: Peter Sondermann, VisKom/City-Luftbilder)