The total number of planets discovered by the Kepler mission, which specializes in finding exoplanets, fell to about 3,000, but there must be some “misjudged” planets among them. MIT research experts found that the three “planets” Kepler-699b, Kepler-840b and Kepler-854b are all between 2 and 4 times the mass of Jupiter, and are unlikely to be planets, more likely to be low-mass small stars .
There is also a fourth planet, Kepler-747b, which is 1.8 times the mass of Jupiter and is on the edge of either a planet or a star. Without direct observation, scientists can only continue to guess its true identity. These observations were made using ESA’s Gaia space telescope, using longer-term observations of the targets Kepler observed that year. Massive stars will affect the shape of the orbits, making them more elliptical, making astronomers believe that the orbital shapes of these “planets” do not conform to the tentative values originally determined by Kepler’s observations.
In the scientific community, it is not new at all to revise previous judgments after new data is obtained, and it is not a big deal to revise three or four pieces relative to the total number Kepler found. Besides, MIT doesn’t expect more fixes like this.