First Exomoon Found! A Neptune-Sized Moon Orbiting a Jupiter-Sized Planet

By Evan Gough October 5, 2018
First Exomoon Found! A Neptune-Sized Moon Orbiting a Jupiter-Sized Planet

"One jarring aspect of the system is the sheer scale of it." - from the paper, Teachey and Kipping, 2018.

"If confirmed, this finding could completely shake up our understanding of how moons are formed and what they can be made of." - Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

"We saw little deviations and wobbles in the light curve that caught our attention." - David Kipping, Columbia University.

"It was definitely a shocking moment to see that Hubble light curve." - David Kipping, Columbia University.

The Exomoon's Origins: A Captured Object?

Sources:

  • Hubble News Release: "Astronomers Find First Evidence of Possible Moon Outside Our Solar System"

  • Research Paper: "Evidence for a large exomoon orbiting Kepler-1625b"

    • Evan Gough