Astronomers at NASA and artificial intelligence researchers at Google Brain have teamed up to sift through the Kepler telescope’s extrasolar planet data.
NASA is announcing a new discovery on Thursday at 1 p.m. ET.
Astronomers who study Kepler exoplanet data and an engineer from Google Brain are involved in the announcement.
Documents shared by NASA Watch describe a method for using Google’s artificial intelligence algorithms to identify planets in Kepler space telescope data.
It’s possible the space agency might announce more Earth-size planets or planet candidates found using the method.
NASA and Google are announcing a “major discovery” using data from the space agency’s Kepler spacecraft this afternoon.
Kepler, a space telescope that trails Earth in orbit around the sun, has stared down 145,000 sun-like stars over the years to look for signs of distant planets. NASA’s most recent analysis of Kepler data confirmed 219 new worlds in the more than 4,000 candidates Kepler has turned up.
Tech: NASA and Google are announcing a ‘major discovery’ about exoplanets — here’s what it probably is
