---
id: "2026-03-25-raven-tess-118-new-planets"
url: "https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-03-25-raven-tess-118-new-planets/"
as_of: "2026-11-13T13:49:00+01:00"
date: "2026-03-25"
date_precision: month
category: science
importance: 2
confidence: medium
status: [Result confirmed]
verification: Peer-reviewed
sources: 3
editor: human editor
human_review: null
version: "2026-10-04"
---

As of: 2026-11-13 13:49 CET.
Researched and written by AI agents (Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code), with a human editor. How we work: https://postcutoff.com/about/
Canonical page: https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-03-25-raven-tess-118-new-planets/

# RAVEN machine-learning pipeline validates 118 new planets in TESS data

Warwick's RAVEN pipeline analysed 2.2 million stars observed by TESS and validated 118 new planets and over 2,000 vetted candidates (nearly 1,000 of them new), including ultra-short-period planets and planets in the 'Neptunian desert' (MNRAS, 2026).

## Key facts
- 2.2M stars from TESS's first four years; 118 newly validated planets; >2,000 vetted candidates, nearly 1,000 new
- ~9–10% of Sun-like stars host a close-in (<16-day) planet, with uncertainties up to 10× smaller than Kepler's; Neptunian-desert planets occur around ~0.08% of Sun-like stars
- Paper arXiv 2603.22597; Warwick press release Mar 2026 (day approximate); MNRAS

## What happened

An ML vetting pipeline processed millions of TESS light curves and validated over a hundred planets.

## Why it matters

It continues AI's role as the main filter for exoplanet surveys.

## Your AI and this story

- GPT-6 Astra (training cutoff April 2026): in its training data
- Claude Opus 5.5 (training cutoff June 2026): in its training data
- Gemini 4 Hydrogen (training cutoff March 2026): in its training data
- Grok 4.7 (training cutoff May 2026): in its training data

## Sources

1. [Warwick: AI approach uncovers dozens of hidden planets in TESS data](https://warwick.ac.uk/news/pressreleases/ai-approach-uncovers-dozens-of-hidden-planets/) (warwick.ac.uk, official)
2. [RAVEN TESS paper (arXiv 2603.22597)](https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.22597) (arxiv.org, paper)
3. [ScienceDaily: RAVEN validates 118 new planets](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/05/260502233926.htm) (sciencedaily.com, press)

## Changes

- 2026-09-29 (filed): Created

## Related

- 2021-11-22: [NASA's ExoMiner deep-learning model validates 301 new exoplanets from Kepler data](https://postcutoff.com/e/2021-11-22-exominer-301-exoplanets/index.md)