Big breakthrough: Google helps NASA discover an 8-planet solar system

In the never-ending search for life beyond planet Earth, NASA scientists have uncovered the only other 8-planet solar system they know of that circles a sun.

With help from Google--and their machine learning computer software--scientists analyzed thousands of data points captured from this NASA planet hunting space telescope, the Kepler.

That data helped researchers discover this new planet, Kepler 90-I.

Like Earth, Kepler I-90 is the third planet from its sun.

Unlike Earth, the temperature on the surface of this planet is about 800 degrees Fahrenheit -- far too hot for life to develop, as we know it.

Astronomer Derrick Pitt says it’s the way the new planet was discovered that has scientists buzzing and makes their jobs easier.

"The Google AI system has been able to search through that pile of information much faster that humans have been able to dig through it.,” Derrick Pitts, astronomer and Planetarium Director at Franklin Institute, said.

“If you think about the analogy of the number of stars in the galaxy being like the number of sand grains on a beach, it's as if we've been asked to search through all the sand grains on the beach to find just the red sand grains."

With our current rocket technology, it’s estimated it would take us millions of years just to reach Kepler 90-I. The new planet also orbits its star about every 14 days, which means you’d have a birthday there just about every two weeks.

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