Astronomers Confirm Rare Star System Kepler-385 with Seven 'Fried' Exoplanets Hotter than Any in Our Solar System

Seven 'fried' exoplanets found in the Kepler-385 system, located 4,670 light years away, are larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune, with two suspected to be rocky and have thin atmospheres, marking its collection as the first multi-planet system with planets hotter than any in our own solar system.

• Kepler-385, a sun-sized star located roughly 4,670 light-years away, has been confirmed to have seven exoplanets, larger than Earth yet smaller than Neptune. This finding was confirmed using data from NASA’s Kepler mission.
• The two planets closest to their host star in Kepler-385 are believed to be rocky with thin atmospheres, although all seven planets are hotter than any in our solar system, a unique characteristic for a multi-planetary system according to NASA.
• Kepler Space Telescope, now retired, provided significant data for exoplanet hunting, observing nearly 200,000 stars to determine the fraction of stars in the Milky Way with Earth-size planets in their habitable zone. The mission discovered 2,662 exoplanets between 2009 and 2018.
• Amongst the collection of seven exoplanets in Kepler-385, only the star system Kepler-90 with its eight known planets surpasses its number. Another star, TRAPPIST-1, also has seven exoplanets, whereas our solar system has eight.
• Although Kepler-385's seven planets are deemed not suitable for hosting life, with the innermost planets being tidally locked, causing extremely hot and cold conditions, the lead author of the study implies that there might be additional, yet difficult to detect, planets further away from the star.

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