Representational image.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

The signal of the planet was discovered by AI from the data which was  previously analysed by the astronomers who failed to detect the planet

A new planet outside the solar system was discovered using  Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology, in what can be called as a major success achieved by AI, which has been making headlines these days. 

The technology was put into use by the astronomers to discover the new planet, which gave a major boost to machine learning. 

Researchers, working at the University of Georgia, said that the discovery of a previously unknown planet which was present outside our solar system took place using the technology. 

These are the first few steps that AI has taken in the world of astronomy and planet discovery, hinting at the amount of success it may achieve in the near future. With the discovery, the AI proved itself to be a tool which can be potentially used across a range of fields. 

“We confirmed the planet using traditional techniques, but our models directed us to run those simulations and showed us exactly where the planet might be,” said Jason Terry, who has been enrolled as a doctoral student at the UGA Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, in a statement. 

The discovery of a new planet has made a new addition to the ever-increasing catalogue of more than 5,000 exoplanets which have been discovered outside the solar system.

The planet’s discovery has been detailed in a study which was published in The Astrophysical Journal, which has been detected around a star named HD 142666. 

Researchers stated that machine learning and AI have revealed new processes which underline the evolution and formation of planetary systems.

The newly-discovered planet’s signal was detected by AI from the data which the astronomers had previously analysed, but the planet remained unnoticed. 

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It took just around an hour for the AI to go through the data and point out the strong evidence which confirms the presence of a new planet in a specific spot. 

“When we applied our models to a set of older observations, they identified a disk that wasn’t known to have a planet despite having already been analysed. Like previous discoveries, we ran simulations of the disk and found that a planet could re-create the observation,” added Jason. 

The model which was processed using AI technology suggested that the planet is present in a particular region of the disk.

“This is an incredibly exciting proof of concept. We knew from our previous work that we could use machine learning to find known forming exoplanets. Now, we know for sure that we can use it to make brand new discoveries,” stated Cassandra Hall, principal investigator of the Exoplanet and Planet Formation Research Group at UGA.