A NASA science team discovered 11 new solar systems hosting at least 26 new planets, according to a UF news release.
A UF astronomy professor and his research team contributed to the new findings, announced on Jan. 26. NASA created the Kepler mission science team to discover planets that orbit stars.
Eric B. Ford is part of the Kepler mission team that made the discovery. He said the experience was gratifying.
"There are challenges and rewards with working with large teams," Ford said. "One of our rewards, in this case, was working with the Kepler space telescope."
The findings nearly double the amount of verified Kepler planets discovered so far, the release stated. It also triples the number of verified stars known to have more than one planet that transits, or passes in front of, its host star.
In his research, Ford and his team, including UF graduate student Robert Morehead and UF postdoctoral associate Althea Moorhead, also developed a new technique that Ford said will dramatically accelerate planetary discovery.
Using a one-meter space telescope, the Kepler mission stares constantly at a patch of the Milky Way, registering small decreases in light when a planet crosses in front a star, the release stated.
With this tool, astronomers are able to constantly monitor more than 160,000 stars at a time.
According to Morehead, a 34-year-old recipient of a National Science Foundation graduate research fellowship, the telescope allowed the team to detect the changes in which the transits occur due to their mutual gravitational influence, confirming 10 of the newly announced planetary systems.
"What's great about this is that we're showing that planets are common around stars," Morehead said. "Most stars have planets around them, which is exciting."
All of the confirmed planets orbit closer to their host stars than Venus does to the sun, the release stated. Their sizes range from 1.7 times the radius of Earth to about the size of Jupiter. Fifteen of them are smaller than Neptune.
"Twenty years ago, we didn't know if there were any planets around other stars," Morehead continued. "Now, we're getting closer and closer to finding a planet similar to Earth. "
Further observations will be required to determine if any of the planets are rocky like Earth, and if any have thick, gaseous atmospheres similar to Neptune, the release stated.
"We're always proud of our students and postdocs when they contribute to these discoveries," Ford said. "In this case, answering questions we've had for centuries."
The Astrophysical Journal and the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society will publish the new discoveries.
