First Known Moon Outside Of Our Solar System May Have Been Discovered

in #science7 years ago

First Exomoon May Have Found By Astronomers


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Scientists have discovered many planets beyond the confines of our solar system. Planets as we know them often have moons, so it would make sense that there are some of those out there as well while the existence of EXO moons has yet to be proven.

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A team of astronomers are getting closer to declaring the first discovery of one. The candidate is located about four thousand light-years away and appears to be travelling with a planet about the size of Jupiter.

It was found through an examination of data gathered by the Kepler space telescope and the traditional method of looking for dips in the star's light.

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In the case of the moon, which is believed to be about the size of Neptune, the telltale temporary interruption occurred close to the time planet caused one of its own. The researchers observed that pattern three times but say that's not nearly enough to confirm that the dip is caused by an EXO moon.

They plan to soon use the more powerful Hubble telescope in hopes of getting the supporting data they need.

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