Google AI, Kepler spacecraft find first 8-planet system outside of our own

NASA discovery of 8th planet orbiting Kepler 90 shows our system isn't unique

Before a Google machine learning program discovered an eighth planet in an exoplanet system using NASA spacecraft observations, the only other known system with as many planets was our own.

Kepler has been scanning for planet systems beyond our solar system since 2009 and has made countless discoveries of planets orbiting stars, but so far none of those systems have contained as many planets as our own.

That changed recently with the help of a Google AI program that found an an eighth planet orbiting the sun-like star Kepler 90, NASA scentists announced Thursday.

Like Earth, this new planet, Kepler-90i, is the third rock from its sun. But it's much closer to its sun — orbiting in just 14 days — and therefore is a scorching 800 degrees Fahrenheit (427 Celsius) at the surface. In fact, all eight planets are scrunched up around this star, orbiting closer than Earth does to our sun.

Kepler scientists already knew of seven planets orbiting Kepler 90, but hadn't been able to detect Kepler 90i.

Google AI software engineer Christopher Shallue and NASA Sagan Postdoctoral Fellow Andrew Vanderburg used data collected by NASA's exoplanet hunter, the Kepler Space Telescope, to develop a machine-learning computer program. It focuses on weak planetary signals — so feeble and numerous it would take humans ages to examine.

"The machine-learning model was able to look at more signals than it would be reasonable for humans to look at," said Christopher Shallue, a senior software engineer at Google AI.

NASA officials said this was the first time an algorithm like this has been used to confirm an exoplanet, and they expect more discoveries.

"I’m on the edge of my seat to see what Chris and Andrew learn when they apply their algorithm to those sections of the sky," Kepler project scientist Jessie Dotson said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.


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