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[Applause]

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while you might not think that sharks in

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the hubble space telescope have a lot in

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common it turns out they share an

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incredible bond

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astronomers needed a powerful tool for

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comparing and matching star

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configurations

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so physics professor edward j groth

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invented a pattern matching algorithm to

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help map all of those stars

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the graph algorithm forms triangles

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between every possible triplet of stars

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in an image

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it then compares the triangle's

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measurements to those in other images to

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find matches

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but what do stars have in common with

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sharks it turns out quite a bit

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for years conservation groups have been

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tracking individual whale sharks

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this beautiful animal has been listed as

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vulnerable to extinction so it's

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important to know how many exist and

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where they go throughout their life

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spans but tagging them is difficult and

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often the electronic trackers break

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after just a few months

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there was another way

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conservationists could comb through

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countless photographs of sharks and

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identify them by the distinctive white

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spots on their skin a marker as unique

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as fingerprints are in humans

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but this was tedious and time-consuming

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work

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and that's when hubble comes into the

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picture

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using a modified version of groth's

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algorithm instead of measuring the

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triangles made by stars conservationists

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were able to measure the distance of the

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whale shark's unique spots

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using this system over 8 000 individual

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whale sharks have been identified so far

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providing continuing data that helps

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researchers learn more about the lives

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and migration patterns of the threatened

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animal so while the hubble space

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telescope might be way up above in space

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and whale sharks are way down underwater