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Despite an explosion of exoplanet discoveries since the 1990s, astronomers have not confirmed the discovery of a single exomoon. In fact, only around a dozen exomoon candidates have been put forward up to now.
In 2018, David Kipping (Columbia University) and Alex Teachey (now at Academia Sinica, Taiwan) were the first, tentatively reporting a possible Neptune-radius moon about 7,800 light-years from Earth: Kepler-1625 b-i. Now, the astronomers and other colleagues have announced the discovery of another exomoon, published January 14th in Nature Astronomy. However, just as before, they urge both caution and the need for further observations.
The putative exomoon, designated Kepler-1708 b-i, was found 5,700 light-years away, orbiting a Jupiter-size planet around a star similar to the Sun. The planet is on a Mars-like orbit, at about 1.6 astronomical units (a.u.). Its moon orbits about 12 planetary radii away, similar to Europa's distance from Jupiter. Unlike Europa, though, Kepler-1708 b-i is huge, about 2.5 times Earth's size. This means the moon would be unlike any satellite in our solar system.
Journal Reference:
David Kipping, Steve Bryson, Chris Burke, et al. An exomoon survey of 70 cool giant exoplanets and the new candidate Kepler-1708 b-i [open], Nature Astronomy (DOI: 10.1038/s41550-021-01539-1)
Yet another observation to add onto JWST's schedule.
Also at Scientific American.
Previously: First Exo-Moon Discovered?
First Known Exomoon May Have Been Detected: Kepler 1625b i
New Evidence Supports Existence of Neptune-Sized Exomoon Orbiting Kepler-1625b
Exomoon Confirmation Remains Elusive
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday January 18 2022, @02:12PM (7 children)
I don't understand all the excitement over every little discovery. Especially discoveries that may or may not be interpreted correctly. We have not yet sent a probe to one single exo-body to check it out. No man has ever sat in a cockpit 100 miles above an exo-thing to confirm what all the instruments seemed to be saying. What exactly are the astronomers seeing? "Oh, look Bill, this star kinda flickers periodically." "Cool, Jane, you found a planet!" Months later, "Hey, Jane! The flicker you found on this sun has a flicker of it's own!" "Awesome Bill! You found a moon!"
In reality, the alien's Dyson Belt has a couple of flaws in it, causing light and energy to escape at exactly those periods we interpret as planets and moons. When they complete their sphere, the flickers will disappear, and we'll sit around for decades, trying to figure out how a star can disappear, along with it's planets and moons.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 18 2022, @03:12PM (4 children)
What a long-ass way to post, "That's no moon..."
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[ insert propaganda here ]
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday January 18 2022, @03:59PM (3 children)
You could save yourself a lot of grief by skipping over my posts.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 18 2022, @04:42PM
Words of Wisdom from Runaway.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 18 2022, @05:08PM (1 child)
“The price of liberty, and even of common humanity, is eternal vigilance.” -Aldous Huxley
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 18 2022, @05:14PM
Spoken like a true conservative!
(Score: 4, Informative) by LabRat on Tuesday January 18 2022, @04:01PM
Oh, to be this much of a curmudgeon. The Scientific American coverage does a good job explaining why this discovery is important.
The Sky and Telescope article provides the more observation-scrutinous quote:
That said, this is a small Neptune-like orbiting a Jupiter-like, so life isn't the reason we care. It's more about gauging observation power with current equipment.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday January 19 2022, @03:23AM
Indeed. Can't they just get all these discoveries done at once, so we can get excited about other stuff instead?
(Score: 3, Informative) by inertnet on Tuesday January 18 2022, @04:14PM
Professor David Kipping explains the process [youtube.com] of the find in detail. Searching for exo moons is his specialty.