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Artifact InSPECtor

Telescope images often contain false features called “artifacts” that can mimic real astronomical objects. Today’s space telescopes like Euclid and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope are poised to answer fundamental questions: How quickly is the Universe expanding? What is dark energy, the strange force causing the expansion of the Universe? But artifacts in the data from cosmic rays and other sources slow them down by confusing astronomers and their computers.

When you join the Artifact InSPECtor project, you’ll help scientists manage these artifacts, so these new space telescopes reach their full potential. You'll examine data on distant galaxies from the Euclid telescope. The telescope has spread the light from the galaxies into rainbows of colors, called spectra. Computer algorithms have tried to separate these useful spectra from pesky artifacts, but they have made mistakes. By correcting these mistakes, you’ll help teach the next generation of computer models to do a better job–and help teach humankind about the Universe we live in.

Go to the project website! about Artifact InSPECtor

project task

Examining Data

division

Universe

where

Online

launched

2026

What you'll do:

  • Learn how to recognize artifacts – stray light from the camera, optics, detector, electronics, or cosmic rays. 
  • Examine telescope images labelled with boxes and painted blue to show where a computer algorithm thinks the artifacts are.
  • Click buttons to tell the computer model when it is right and wrong.
  • If you like, you can discuss what you find with other volunteers and scientists in an online forum.

Requirements

  • Time: 10-15 minutes to complete the tutorial, then as much time as you like.
  • Equipment: An internet-connected computer, tablet, or smartphone
  • Knowledge: None. There’s a in-project tutorial.

Get started! 

  1. Visit the project website.
  2. Complete the in-project tutorial to learn how to distinguish artifacts from real astronomical objects.
  3. Start inspecting data on distant galaxies from the latest space telescopes.

Learn more: 

Fun fact: the reason that the letters “SPEC” are capitalized in this project’s name is because the data Artifact InSPECtor is focused on is spectroscopy data. Learn more about spectroscopy and how it is used in astronomy research on NASA’s Spectroscopy 101 webpages. 

Artifact InSPECtor logo. Circular logo featuring a spiral galaxy in a patch of space, where the usual black background is rendered as white and the light from stars appears in shades of purple. A black magnifying glass overlaps the image of space, with a starburst in purple centered in its glass. Its black handle serves as the "I" in the word "nSPECtor," which curves around the bottom edge of the circle, with ‘SPEC’ highlighted in purple. The word ‘ARTIFACT’ curves across the top of the circle.
Six examples of common astronomical imaging artifacts: Snowball (bright white blob), Zeroth Order Sources (two bright rectangular spots), Wrinkles and Streaks (diagonal line), Whiskers (star-like diffraction pattern), Squiggles and Smudges (curved dark lines), and Artifact Missing from Mask (blue highlighted regions on grainy background).
Gallery of artifacts you might see in data from the Euclid telescope. These annoying monsters pose as real galaxies–but you can learn to spot the difference.
Image credit: Artifact InSPECTor project

Get to know the people of Artifact InSPECtor!

Selfie of Aimee Schechter.

Aimee Schechter

Project lead, Astrophysicist Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Minnesota

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Photo of Bharath C. Nagam.

Bharath C. Nagam

Astrophysicist, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Minnesota

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Headshot of Kameswara Bharadwaj Mantha.

Kameswara Bharadwaj Mantha

Astrophysicist, Researcher, University of Missouri

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Headshot of Hugh Dickinson.

Hugh Dickinson

Astrophysicist and Lecturer, Open University

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Portrait of Claudia Scarlata.

Claudia Scarlata

Professor and Astrophysicist, University of Minnesota

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Portrait of Lucy Fortson.

Lucy Fortson

Professor and Astrophysicist, University of Minnesota

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Headshot of Tom Donlon.

Tom Donlon

Astrophysicist, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Minnesota

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Photo of Billie the Bluetick coonhound.

Billie

Bluetick coonhound, Schechter family pet

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