Science
Related: About this forumSignal may be from first 'exomoon' (BBC)
By Paul Rincon
Science editor, BBC News website
27 July 2017
From the section Science & Environment
A team of astronomers has potentially discovered the first known moon beyond the Solar System.
If confirmed, the "exomoon" is likely to be about the size and mass of Neptune, and circles a planet the size of Jupiter but with 10 times the mass.
The signal was detected by Nasa's Kepler Space Telescope; astronomers now plan to carry out follow-up observations with Hubble in October.
A paper about the candidate moon is published on the Arxiv pre-print site.
To date, astronomers have discovered more than 3,000 exoplanets - worlds orbiting stars other than the Sun.
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more: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-40741545
DetlefK
(16,423 posts)shenmue
(38,506 posts)C_U_L8R
(45,035 posts)Victor_c3
(3,557 posts)But couldn't a moon the size of Neptune have its own moons orbiting it?
There sure is a whole hell of a lot of places for possible life in our local part of the galaxy...
eppur_se_muova
(36,317 posts)Yes, in theory, moons can have moons. The region of space around a satellite where a sub-satellite can exist is called the Hill sphere. Outside the Hill sphere, a sub-satellite would be lost from its orbit about the satellite. ...
http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/about-us/44-our-solar-system/the-moon/general-questions/104-can-moons-have-moons-intermediate
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)Maybe "Mooons"
eppur_se_muova
(36,317 posts)Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)Well, I guess "moonmoons" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, either.
eppur_se_muova
(36,317 posts)... particularly after it got a few syllables deep.