The first moon in another solar system?
A research team with Swiss participation has detected an unexpectedly large moon orbiting an exoplanet in a distant solar system. The find has yet to be confirmed.
The earth has a moon, pictured here at the double mountain Les Jumelles in Valais. Now there is evidence of a moon in another solar system.
Photo: Keystone
Earth has one, Mars has two, Jupiter and Saturn around 80: Moons are frequent companions in our solar system, especially on the outer planets. Accordingly, it would be expected that planets orbiting other stars also have moons.
Astronomers had a first candidate proposed in 2018. It is called Kepler-1625 bi and is said to orbit the exoplanet Kepler-1625 b discovered with the Kepler space telescope. but to as discovery to apply are the clues still too weak.
Now present Astromomen and Astronominnen with the participation of the ETH Zurich in «Nature Astronomy» another candidate, called Kepler-1708 bi. As the name indicates, should it orbit the exoplanet Kepler-1708 b, at a distance of 5584 light years in the constellation Cygnus.