Eighth planet found in faraway solar system, matching ours

It is 2,545 light-years away from us. Well, that is mind-blowing.

A record-tying eighth planet has been found in a faraway solar system, matching our own in number.

Even more amazing, machines and not humans made the discovery. NASA joined with Google on Thursday to announce the finding.

This illustration made available by NASA shows a comparison of the planets in the solar system and those orbiting the star Kepler-90. An eighth planet, Kepler-90i, has been found in the faraway solar system, matching our own in numbers. This is the only eight-planet solar system found like ours _ so far. (Wendy Stenzel/NASA, Ames Research Center via AP)

This eighth planet orbits the star known as Kepler-90. Like Earth, this new planet, Kepler-90i, is the third rock from its sun. But it's much closer to its sun — orbiting in just 14 days — and therefore a scorching 800 degrees Fahrenheit (427 Celsius) at the surface. In fact, all eight planets are scrunched up around this star, orbiting closer than Earth does to our sun.

This is the only eight-planet solar system found like ours — so far — tying for the most planets observed around a single star.

Our solar system had nine planets until Pluto was demoted to a dwarf planet in 2006 by the International Astronomical Union, a decision that still stands. Some astronomers, however, suspect there could be a large ninth planet out there: an elusive Planet X the size of Neptune but much farther out.

The Kepler-90 system also could have a ninth planet or more, according to the researchers. It is 2,545 light-years away; a light-year is 5.8 trillion miles.

Google used data collected by NASA's keen planet hunter, the Kepler Space Telescope, to develop the machine-learning computer program. It focuses on weak planetary signals — so feeble and numerous it would take humans ages to examine.

While machine learning has been used before in the search for exoplanets — planets beyond our solar system — it's believed to be the first time an artificial neural network like this has been used to find a new world.

"This is a really exciting discovery, and we consider it to be a successful proof of concept to be using neural networks to identify planets, even in challenging situations where the signals are very weak," said Christopher Shallue, a senior software engineer at Google in Mountain View, California.

NASA astrophysicist Jessie Dotson, the Kepler project scientist, is "so excited to see where this goes next."

"Who knows what potential insights might be gained," she said.

Shallue teamed up with astronomer Andrew Vanderburg of the University of Texas at Austin to develop the program. They essentially trained a computer to identify exoplanets based on Kepler's observations in changing stellar brightness — the subtle, fleeting dip in a star's brightness when a planet passes in front of it.

The two used a technique similar to what had been previously used by others to enable machines to distinguish between pictures of cats and dogs.

Besides identifying Kepler-90i, the machine-learning program also confirmed an exoplanet missed by astronomers in yet another solar system: Kepler-80g, the sixth planet in that particular solar system.

Shallue and Vanderburg plan to keep up the hunt, using the program to scour the 150,000-plus stars observed by Kepler.

In all, more than 3,560 exoplanets have been confirmed to date — two-thirds of them spotted by the 2009-launched Kepler — with another approximately 4,500 candidates awaiting verification.

It will be up to more advanced telescopes, like the James Webb Space Telescope targeted for launch in 2019, to study the atmospheres of these distant worlds and sniff out any traces of possible life, Vanderburg noted.

Shallue said Google plans to release all the code needed for someone to join the exoplanet search, using a basic home computer and the publicly available Kepler data. No specialized hardware should be needed, he said.

Neither NASA nor Google expect to put astronomers out of business.

Shallue sees this as a tool to help astronomers have more impact and increase their productivity.

"It certainly will not replace them at all," he assured reporters.

DETROIT (AP) — The driver of a Ford electric SUV involved in a February fatal crash in Texas was using the company's partially automated driving system before the wreck, federal investigators said Thursday.

Data from the 2022 Mustang Mach E SUV showed that Ford's “Blue Cruise” driver-assist system was in use ahead of the Feb. 24 crash, according to a preliminary report released Thursday by the National Transportation Safety Board.

The crash is one of two recent fatal wrecks involving Ford Mustang Mach Es that are under investigation by the NTSB and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which often send teams to probe incidents involving automated technology.

The NTSB can only make recommendations, but NHTSA has the authority to take action including seeking recalls for safety issues.

In both cases, the Mach Es hit vehicles stopped on freeways at night, and neither the driver nor the system were able to prevent the collisions. Ford says on its website that its driving systems do not replace human drivers, who have to be ready to take control at any time.

A company spokeswoman wouldn't comment on the NTSB report Thursday, deferring to a previous statement saying that Ford is cooperating in the investigations.

The Texas crash occurred on Interstate 10 in San Antonio. The NTSB report says the Mach E struck the rear of a 1999 Honda CR-V that was stopped in the middle of three lanes around 9:50 p.m. The 56-year-old driver of the CR-V was killed.

Another driver who was able to avoid the CR-V told investigators that neither its tail nor hazard lights were working at the time.

The agency said it intends to issue safety recommendations to prevent similar crashes. It has said it opened the probe due to continued interest in advanced driver assistance systems and how vehicle operators interact with the new technology.

The other crash involving a Mach E killed two people around 3:20 a.m. March 3 in the northbound lanes of Interstate 95 in Philadelphia.

The Pennsylvania State Police said Thursday that a Mach E was in the left lane when it struck a stationary Hyundai Elantra that earlier had collided with a Toyota Prius.

The Mach E hit the Hyundai, pushing it into the rear of the Prius. During the crash, the driver of the Prius, who was outside of his vehicle, also was struck and thrown into the southbound lanes, the release said.

A police spokeswoman said a person from the Hyundai also was on the roadway and was hit. Both victims, males ages 21 and 20, were pronounced dead at the scene.

A police news release on the crash says a criminal investigation is under way and a charge of homicide by motor vehicle while driving under the influence is possible against the 23-year-old woman driving the Mach E.

Ford’s Blue Cruise system allows drivers to take their hands off the steering wheel while it handles steering, braking and acceleration on highways. The company says the system isn’t fully autonomous and it monitors drivers to make sure they pay attention to the road. It operates on 97% of controlled access highways in the U.S. and Canada, Ford says.

There are no fully autonomous vehicles for sale to the public in the U.S.

Both NHTSA and the NTSB have investigated multiple previous crashes involving partially automated driving systems, most involving Tesla’s Autopilot. In past investigations, the NTSB has examined how the system functioned.

FILE - A Ford sign is seen at a dealership in Springfield, Pa., April 26, 2022. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating a March 3, 2024, crash near Philadelphia that killed two people and involved a Ford electric vehicle that may have been operating on a partially automated driving system. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)