Two New Planets Found Using Artificial Intelligence
Two exoplanets previously unknown to astronomers have been found using artificial intelligence. A group of young researchers utilized AI from Google to analyze data from the Kepler mission, uncovering these two worlds. One planet, K2–293b, is found 1,300 light years from Earth, while K2–294b is located 1,230 light years away from our own system. Both planets are seen in the constellation Aquarius.
The Kepler space telescope launched in 2009 on a mission to discover new worlds orbiting alien suns. Following the failure of gyroscopes used to orientate the observatory, the program entered the K2 segment of its mission. It was during this time that the spacecraft collected the observations which contained data on the newly-discovered worlds.
“[The two planets] are both very typical of planets found in K2. They’re really close in to their host star, they have short orbital periods, and they’re hot. They are slightly larger than Earth,” explained Anne Dattilo, an undergraduate at the University of Texas at Austin, leader of the team that made the discovery.
Dattilo developed the algorithm used to reveal the unknown planets in the Kepler data, working with Andrew Vanderburg from UT Austin and Google’s Christopher Shallue.
