Scientists find 100+ hidden exoplanets in NASA data using new AI system

"The team trained machine learning models to identify patterns in the data that can tell astronomers the type of event that has been detected, something that AI models excel at. RAVEN is designed to handle the whole exoplanet-detection process in one go — from detecting the signal to vetting it with machine learning and then statistically validating it. That means that it has an additional edge over other contemporary tools that only focus on specific parts of this process ...

"RAVEN allows us to analyze enormous datasets consistently and objectively," senior team member and University of Warwick researcher David Armstrong said in the statement. "Because the pipeline is well-tested and carefully validated, this is not just a list of potential planets — it is also reliable enough to use as a sample to map the prevalence of distinct types of planets around sun-like stars."

Within the candidate close-in planets, researchers could then determine the types of planets and their populations in detail. This revealed that around 10% of stars like the sun host a close-in planet, validating findings made by TESS's exoplanet-hunting predecessor Kepler.

RAVEN was also able to help researchers determine just how rare close-in Neptune-size worlds are, finding that they occur around just 0.08% of sun-like stars. This absence of these worlds close to their parent star is referred to as the "Neptunian desert" by astronomers.

"For the first time, we can put a precise number on just how empty this 'desert' is," leader of the Neptunian desert study team, Kaiming Cui of the University of Warwick said in the statement. "These measurements show that TESS can now match, and in some cases surpass, Kepler for studying planetary populations."

The RAVEN results demonstrate the power of AI to search through vast swathes of astronomical data to spot subtle effects."