Robot Telescope Outshines Humans, Finds Three Super Earth Planets

Showing what automation can do for astronomy, a robot telescope has discovered three super Earths around a star in our planet's neighbourhood.

Researchers at UC Berkeley and at University of Hawaii recently discovered the planets around the star HD 7924 which itself was discovered in 2009, 54 light years from earth. The planets were discovered after researchers automated the planet finder telescope to replacing humans and look for atop Mt. Hamilton in San Jose to look for stars. The automated planet finder (APF) noted a wobble in the light from which HD 7924 helped researchers spot orbiting planets.

"We initially used the APF like a regular telescope, staying up all night searching star to star. But the idea of letting a computer take the graveyard shift was more appealing after months of little sleep. So we wrote software to replace ourselves with a robot," said Benjamin Fulton of University of Hawaii.

"The three planets are unlike anything in our solar system, with masses seven to eight times the mass of Earth and orbits very close to their host star," said UC Berkeley graduate student Lauren Weiss.

The planets' distances from their parent star is said to be smaller than mercury-sun distance causing the planets to complete their orbits in 24 days. Researchers believe automation will help discover several other earth-like planets within 100 light years.