NASA scientists have discovered another 301 exoplanets -- those outside the solar system.

The new discoveries bring the total of validated exoplanets to 4,569 since the discovery of the first ones in the mid-1990s.

NASA said Monday that the discoveries can be attributed to a new network called ExoMiner, that leverages NASA's Supercomputer, Pleiades, and can distinguish real exoplanets from different types of impostors, or "false positives."

Deep neural networks are machine-learning methods that automatically learn a task when provided with enough data.

ExoMiner supplements people who are pros at combing through data and deciphering what is and isn't a planet. Specifically, they study the data gathered by NASA's Kepler spacecraft and K2, its follow-on mission.

NASA has an online archive that contains details of the exoplanet discoveries.

Meanwhile, a study by Purdue University in 2019 said that astronomers had identified two exoplanets that could even support life. That same year, two scientists were awarded the Nobel Price in Physics for their discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star.

Related Links
Lands Beyond Beyond - extra solar planets - news and science
Life Beyond Earth

Tweet

The worlds next door: Looking for habitable planets around Alpha Centauri
Sydney, Australia (SPX) Nov 18, 2021
A mission to discover new planets potentially capable of sustaining life around Earth's nearest neighbor, Alpha Centauri, was announced this week by Sydney University. The proposed telescope project will look for planets in the 'Goldilocks' zone around the star system just four light years away, where temperatures could allow for liquid surface water on rocky planets. Work on the project began in April of this year. Scientists from the University of Sydney, in partnership with the Breakthrou ... read more