Abstract: Disclosed is a system and method for collecting, processing and aggregating satellite imagery with large volumes of other digitized data for analysis by a human user in order to identify geographic areas for further data collection and/or analysis. More particularly, the invention relates to identifying geographic subjects for satellite image acquisition by aggregating and analyzing first-time changes detected by satellite imagery as well as weather report data, social media streams and newswire feeds. An analytics engine uses rules to qualify, flag and correlate asynchronous data from a plurality of sources with changes on the earth's surface, and catalogs and stores the qualified and correlated data where it may be queried and used to prepare reports or recommendations for future satellite image acquisition targets.

Abstract: A method of determining a silhouette of a remote object is disclosed herein. The method can include directing an array of telescopes at a star to sense an intensity of EM radiation over time and transmit signals corresponding to the intensity. The signals can be received at a computing device. Each signal can be indicative of a portion of an intensity diffraction pattern generated by an occlusion of the star by an occluding object. The signals can be combined to form a two-dimensional, intensity diffraction pattern. Each point on the intensity diffraction pattern associated with a time, a position of each telescope in the array, and an intensity of the sensed EM radiation. A silhouette of the occluding object can be determined based on the intensity diffraction pattern. A system for performing the method is also disclosed herein.