Hubble Image Similarity Project (“HISP”)

The Hubble Image Similarity Project (HISP) is a large collection of similarity information between sub-regions of Hubble Space Telescope images as described in White & Peek 2025. These data can be used to assess the accuracy of image search algorithms based on computer vision methods. The images were compared by humans in a citizen science project, where they were asked to select similar images from a comparison sample. Nearly 850,000 comparison measurements have been analyzed to construct a similarity distance matrix between all the pairs of images. The results are very impressive: the data capture similarity between images based on morphology, texture, and other details that are sometimes difficult even to describe in words (e.g., dusty absorption bands with sharp edges). The collective visual wisdom of the citizen scientists matches the accuracy of the trained eye, with even subtle differences among images faithfully reflected 16 in the distances.