Artificial Intelligence and NASA Data Used to Discover Eighth Planet Circling Distant Star

Our solar system now is tied for most number of planets around a single star, with the recent discovery of an eighth planet circling Kepler-90, a Sun-like star 2,545 light years from Earth. The planet was discovered in data from NASA’s Kepler space telescope.

The newly-discovered Kepler-90i -- a sizzling hot, rocky planet that orbits its star once every 14.4 days -- was found by researchers from Google and The University of Texas at Austin using machine learning. Machine learning is an approach to artificial intelligence in which computers “learn.” In this case, computers learned to identify planets by finding in Kepler data instances where the telescope recorded signals from planets beyond our solar system, known as exoplanets.

Video credit: NASA/Ames Research Center

NASA's Ames Research Center is located in California's Silicon Valley. Follow us on social media to hear about the latest developments in space, science and technology.

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

[thecomputerandme]

Some people don't get this, so here is an explanation why this was worth an announcement:

Kepler data had to be searched manually to find exoplanets. Hard work though.
It is sometimes not easy to recognize an exoplanet orbiting around a star, even for a human.
Without trained AI, we are going to smother in data to find potential planets within a habitable zone and are likely to miss a planet with the potential to have life on it when we broaden the search in the visable sky.

It is similiar to find a specific grain of sand in the Sahara.

I remember, this was a discussion on planet hunters, to do the search automatically with the result: Likely not possible.
Trained AI shows us now it is possible. But we still have to review that stuff to confirm.

Big problem: We need more computer and manpower to get through all this data in the future...sigh.

[februarysnows]

What an exciting news from NASA! Good work! Looking forward to seeing more of awesome announcements in the near future!

[williamschwartz]

I only take exception to the description of the star as a "distant" star. The star is a mere 2, 434 LY away. The Milky Way is over 100, 000 LY wide. 99.9% of the stars IN JUST OUR GALAXY are further away from Earth than is this star and that doesn't begin to consider the billions of outer galaxies in the observable universe. "Distant" my foot. Considering the observable universe, this star is barely a stones throw away. Just imagine how many more there must be with similar planetary systems.

[التسارعالكوني-نب]

حركة اﻷرض إذا توقفت عن الدوران

Hi I have questions About the movement of the earth day and night .
What happens if the earth stops rotating around itself?
What happens to humans if the ground stops moving?
Please send questions to space scientists and space science websites

[tvdforever]

I don't understand... We already have 8 planets in our solar system then what does it mean '8th planet'?? Pls reply....

[Someone-cfjh]

What creative names... Everything is just Kepler.

[space_artist_real]

This planetary system is very intriguing because it's exactly how we believed solar systems were like before we had discovered exo planets: Earth-like, rocky planets are close to their star, gas giants are farther away because lighter gases are cleared out by of the solar wind... now we know gas giants usually orbit close to their sun (hot Jupiters), and our solar system is arranged quite uniquely. Hence, seeing the arrangement of the planets of this system really bothers me because it's clearly not ordinary.

Anyone wants to confirm or completely demolish what I think?

[DanielSMatthews]

So some science folks used a complex mathematical filter that was primed using existing human correlated data to find some similar data then they interpreted it as they did for the data they found the hard way.

I love your work NASA, and Google, but meh...

[altar]

Wow... what an announcement... Congratulations NASA, you are the king of science hype.

[thecomputerandme]

Question to the NASA (unlikely to be answered but still worth to be answered): Is the AI improved by an AI to do this task?

[phillipja]

So, my question to NASA Ames is: If the surface temperature of Kepler-90i is 800F, what would the surface temperature of earth be if earth was a dead planet without atmosphere or water or trees to get in the way ?

[FernandoGonzalez-zois]

Little by little they are confirming us the truth that they know from long time ago. They are preparing our mind and when you least expect it they will admit that we are not alone in the universe.

[halo]

Not if we count Pluto as a planet again.... MAKE PLUTO A PLANET AGAIN

[rwfrenchGenX]

I understand that science is all about statistics but I'd like to make a few points about today's announcement.  This machine learning software was looking at archival data that humans didn't look at because of the weakness of the signal in the data.  Kepler telescope is a great piece of technology but the mirror isn't perfectly flat so there's some room for error just from the optics of the telescope.  The signal is measuring a dip in the sunlight of a star 2, 500 light years away so basically every exoplanet discovered by man and machine could be a planet and a moon and their combined mass is causing the dip.  Now the machine looks at the data based on what it was told to look for and by using statistical formulae on data that humans haven't looked at yet it determined there was a 94.2% chance it was another planet.  It's great technology and the more it's used the better it will become and that data will be added to the human studied data for a more complete picture.  This won't be putting people out of work though so no worries there!  Congratulations to the teams and please keep up the good work, but let's be fair and say that a statistical analysis is the next best thing to a case study, therefore, it provides the 2nd best result!

[edrosenberger]

Well, this was an anticlimactic teleconference. It would make far more sense to direct this time and capital on closer stars like the Alpha Centauri triple-star system....or one of several other stars within 15 light years where we actually would have some chance of traveling to someday. Spending time on stars 2, 545 light years away will only yield conjecture.

[lale]

è assolutamente la notizia del secolo!

[klaralyly]

Bravo la science, enfin nous allons dans les années à venir apprendre que la vie existe aussi ailleurs. Merci à toutes les personnes femmes et hommes de la science.

[daniloescleto]

please use the AI to look for the nth planet of our solar system!!!!

[hemantdhaliwal]

We all humans thought that water is nessasary for life but maybe this is not a truth maybe extraterritorial life is is on a planet which doesn't have sun we have to study again regarding this i request NASA to reveal a little bit (LITTLE-BIT) so that anybody on earth gives some tips to NASA maybe an ordinary man why NASA only believes in astronomy and scientists in my best views they should give chance maybe anybody help NASA which scientists not yet.it's my personal thoughts don't be take it so serious ok...

[jesus.christ.is.coming]

God created beautiful things 😊 His beauty and wisdom are all around us 😊 Theres still more He made, but our human minds will never grasp it 😊 💖 Praise the Beautiful Lord amen!! 😊💖