Astronomers have discovered at least three small stars masquerading as exoplanets.
They were originally discovered by NASA's Kepler space telescope. Scientists classified them as exoplanets. However, a new study suggests a mistake may have crept in.
Scientists have revised their approach to determining the size of stars. This revealed three suspicious objects - Kepler-854b, Kepler-840b and Kepler-699b. They were about the size of two to four Jupiters - too big to be planets. Researchers say they should be classified as small stars.
The fourth suspicious object, known as Kepler-747b, is about 1.8 times the size of Jupiter, which is normal for an exoplanet. However, Kepler-747b is located relatively far from its star, meaning it probably doesn't receive enough light. It is also likely to be a star.
