As stargazing fad grows, astronomers leverage AI for enhanced galactic imagery

For 27year old Mihir Gilbile gazing at stars is both a professional and personal joy As the tour faculty at the Horizon Astronomical Society in Vangani in Thane district Gilbile often takes participants through the mysteries and techniques that go into stargazing and astrophotography ldquoIt is not as simple as taking photographs of landscape There is a lot of mathematics and science that goes into itrdquo he explains Since it was first experimented with in the early 19th century astronomers have used highpowered telescopes and lenses for space exploration Naturally stargazers have been experimenting with technology from its early years Today astronomers around the world are turning to Artificial Intelligence AI as an innovative tool to get sharper images of space constellationsFor a clear viewAn image of the North American Nebula before processingThe exercise is a delicate one with many variables such as the lens exposure and the nature of the targeted star or galaxy targeted that come into play ldquoWe use computerised telescopes that can be handled remotely These are trained at a constellation or galaxy and left unobstructed so that they can gather data to create the right imagerdquo he shares The exposure can range from anywhere between 10 minutes to five hours In this duration the equipment can face multiple hurdles such as heating up atmospheric interference and data lags that affect the pictureA key part of the experiment then is the processing ldquoYou need to understand that distance is often irrelevant Since galaxies and nebulas emit light on different wavelengths you need filters to truly see them as humans dordquo he explains The telescopic photographs are often in black and white These are then subjected to multiple filters such as hydrogen RGB Red Green and Blue channel filters sulphur channels to clear the image for the human eyeFuture technologySince 2018 scientists and astronomers have been experimenting with software to simplify this process he shares Software like Asiair Luminar AI or Noise Xterminator serve to spruce up pictures taken in a short time ldquoIf you see traditionally astrophotographers would stack the images and process it on Photoshop The quality would depend on the individual processing their technique experience and understanding Currently AI is used to remove the noise It reads the image better and differentiates much better between a normal pixel and plain noiserdquo Gilbile explains It also eliminates the manual hours spent poring over pixels painstakingly to get an accurate image Most software he adds also come with features for preprocessing This allows them to set parameters and limits to focus specifically on an image eliminating any further distractions he sharesAn image of the North American Nebula after processingldquoI turned to AI software in the last year and the results have been phenomenal However it has been steadily on the rise While scientists did not specifically know it was AI as the versions have evolved it has become a standard use case across the scientific communityrdquo Gilbile remarks Does that change the human effort of discovery we wonder ldquoNordquo says Gilbile ldquoScience is about accuracy As long as technology allows us to get accurate images clear data and enables us to read and understand it better it can prove only beneficialrdquoA clear image of the Lagoon and Trifid nebula processed by AI softwareWhat is itAIenabled software helps in cleaning up and sprucing data and images captured through telescopic lenses for clearer images of constellations and galaxiesHow it worksThe software processes the data and the images faster based on previous analysis It helps to eliminate noise pixelation or any interference created during the camera exposure with minimal errors Clear reading of data and set parameters enable a sharper image postprocessingWho it benefitsFor now the technology is benefiting astronomers and stargazers who are turning to it as a tool to simplify their processes As the medium evolves hobbyists speculate how it might change the nature of stargazing with specific and targeted parameters and accurate focus