An artist’s concept depicts select planetary discoveries made to date by NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope. Using a statistical method, scientists can confirm planets more quickly and effectively.
An artist’s concept depicts select planetary discoveries made to date by NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope. Using a statistical method, scientists can confirm planets more quickly and effectively.
Photo: W. Stenzel NASA
This artist’s rendering made available on Thursday comparing Earth, left, and the planet Kepler-452b, which was found using NASA’s Kepler telescope.
It is the first near-Earth-size planet orbiting in the habitable zone of a sun-like star, found using data from NASA’s Kepler mission. The illustration represents one possible appearance for the exoplanet – scientists do not know whether the it has oceans and continents like Earth. (NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle via AP)
This artist’s rendering made available on Thursday comparing Earth, left, and the planet Kepler-452b, which was found using NASA’s Kepler telescope.
It is the first near-Earth-size planet orbiting in the
Photo: T. Pyle, HOGP
Date: 2012-`
Mission: Explore Mars.
Cost in 2017 dollars: $2.6 billion
Date: 2012-`
Mission: Explore Mars.
Cost in 2017 dollars: $2.6 billion
Photo: Associated Press
Date: 2003-`
Mission: Explore Mars.
Cost in 2017 dollars: $1 billion
Date: 2003-`
Mission: Explore Mars.
Cost in 2017 dollars: $1 billion
Photo: NASA/JPL, NASA FILE PHOTO
Date: 1958-1963
Mission: Put an American into Earth’s orbit before the Soviet Union.
Cost in 2017 dollars: $2.13 billion
Date: 1958-1963
Mission: Put an American into Earth’s orbit before the Soviet Union.
Cost in 2017 dollars: $2.13 billion
Photo: NASA
Project Gemini
Date: 1962-1967
Mission: Develop technology and practice maneuvers that would be used to go to the moon.
Cost in 2017 dollars: $9.4 billion
Project Gemini
Date: 1962-1967
Mission: Develop technology and practice maneuvers that would be used to go to the moon.
Cost in 2017 dollars: $9.4 billion
Photo: Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images
Date: 1961-1972
Mission: Land the first humans on the moon.
Cost in 2017 dollars: $162.4 billion
Date: 1961-1972
Mission: Land the first humans on the moon.
Cost in 2017 dollars: $162.4 billion
Photo: NEIL ARMSTRONG, HO
Date: 2011-2017
Mission: Explore Jupiter
Cost in 2017 dollars: $1.21 billion
Date: 2011-2017
Mission: Explore Jupiter
Cost in 2017 dollars: $1.21 billion
Photo: NASA
Date: 1998-
Mission: Establish an orbiting science laboratory
Cost in 2017 dollars: $148 billion
Date: 1998-
Mission: Establish an orbiting science laboratory
Cost in 2017 dollars: $148 billion
Photo: handout web
Date: 1981-2011
Mission: Carry cargo and astronauts into low Earth orbit
Cost in 2017 dollars: $232.7 billion
Date: 1981-2011
Mission: Carry cargo and astronauts into low Earth orbit
Cost in 2017 dollars: $232.7 billion
Photo: NASA/Getty Images
Date: Set to launch in 2018
Mission: Replace the Hubble telescope
Cost in 2017 dollars: $8.8 billion
Date: Set to launch in 2018
Mission: Replace the Hubble telescope
Cost in 2017 dollars: $8.8 billion
Photo: NASA/James Webb Space Telescope
Date: 1997-2017
Mission: Explore Saturn and its moons.
Cost in 2017 dollars: $4.59 billion
Date: 1997-2017
Mission: Explore Saturn and its moons.
Cost in 2017 dollars: $4.59 billion
Photo: De Agostini Picture Library/De Agostini/Getty Images
Date: 1977-
Mission: Explore outer planets and beyond.
Cost in 2017 dollars: $3.9 billion
Date: 1977-
Mission: Explore outer planets and beyond.
Cost in 2017 dollars: $3.9 billion
Photo: Science & Society Picture Library/SSPL Via Getty Images
Date: 1975-1982
Mission: Explore Mars.
Cost in 2017 dollars: $4.5 billion
Date: 1975-1982
Mission: Explore Mars.
Cost in 2017 dollars: $4.5 billion
Photo: NASA
NASA has discovered an eighth planet in a distant solar system — but its not a place University of Texas-Austin astronomer Andrew Vanderburg would ever want to visit.
The planet, Kepler 90i, is scorching hot (about 800 degrees Farenheit) and rocky, located in the Kepler-90 system about 2,500 light-years away from Earth, Vanderburg said Thursday during a NASA teleconference.
This discovery, made using computers that “learned” to find previously missed exoplanets in data from the Kepler Space Telescope , means that our solar system’s eight planets might not be so extraordinary after all, he added.
“We now know our solar system is not the sole record holder for the most planets,” he said.
Vanderburg, also a NASA Sagan fellow, and Christopher Shallue, senior software engineer at Google A.I., developed developed this “neural network” to recognize patterns caused by actual planets, not by other objects.
The program “looks at more signals than a human could look at,” Shallue said. “It will help astronomers have more impact.”
But it cannot be used to determine if there is alien life on any of these planets, scientists said.
“Searching for bio-signatures will be something that has to be done with more specialized equipment,” said Paul Hertz, NASA’s Astrophysics Division director.
That would be more reserved for the $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope, for example, which will study the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets similar to Earth. Webb is scheduled for launch in Spring 2019, according to NASA.
The neural network program also discovered a sixth, earth-sized planet (Kepler-80g) in the Kepler-80 system.
The Kepler Telescope was launched in 2009, with a primary mission to hunt for distant planets outside our solar system — known as exoplanets. It’s discoveries have led to the widely accepted belief among astronomers that there could be at least one planet orbiting each star.
Since the telescope’s launch, about 2,500 exoplanets have been confirmed, according to NASA.
Scientists plan to continue sifting through the Kepler data with this neutral network program, though they couldn’t say how many more planets they anticipate finding.
Alex Stuckey covers NASA and the environment for the Houston Chronicle. You can reach her at alex.stuckey@chron.com or http://ift.tt/1bNCYqd.
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