NASA Kepler mission finds 26 new planets in 11 new solar systems

The announcement brings the number of confirmed planets to 729, with another 2,300 possibilities.

The known universe just got a little bigger.

Scientists at NASA's planet-hunting Kepler mission announced the discovery of 26 planets in 11 differet solar systems on Thursday, Reuters reports.

The announcement brings the number of confirmed planets to 729, with another 2,300 possible planets floating around out there.

"This tells us that our galaxy is positively loaded with planets of all sizes and orbits," Doug Hudgins of the Kepler program said, according to CNN.

All of the newly discovered planets are situated more closely to the star they orbit than the Earth is to our sun, CNN reoprts. The smallest of them is about one-and-a-half times larger in diameter than Earth, and some are larger than Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system. Read More