JAKARTA – Exobulans, natural satellites that orbit exoplanets, are still a big question mark to this day. The reason is, the presence of this natural satellite has not been proven by scientists.
Previously, there was research that said that two exoplanets, namely Kepler-1625b and Kepler-1708b, had the potential to have moons. However, the truth of this research has not been confirmed.
Sciencealert reports that Max Planck Institute astrophysicist René Heller is working to find the moon. The astronomer said that, “We want to confirm the discovery of exomoons around Kepler-1625b and Kepler-1708b.”
Unfortunately, this wish is very difficult to achieve. Even though humans have currently discovered around 5,550 exoplanets, the search for exoplanets is still not easy. The farther away the exoplanet is, the smaller its size and light.
This condition makes it difficult for scientists to detect satellites orbiting exoplanets. Apart from the distance problem, it is also difficult for them to separate the exoplanet’s signal from its parent. In fact, this signal is very useful in research.
In 2018, one group of astronomers said they captured signals from an exomoon surrounding Kepler-1625b. They also tell how the signal can be tentatively detected.
A year later, two astronomers tried to replicate these observations. According to them, the claim that the signal came from an exomoon is most likely false. They believed that the signal came from an ordinary planet.
Returning to Heller, he and his colleagues designed an algorithm to detect transiting exoplanets with an exomoon called Pandora. The first exoplanet they studied was Kepler-1708b.
According to Heller and Astrophysicist Michael Hippke, there is no data to suggest that an exomoon is in the vicinity of the planet. The same results were also seen when they studied Kepler-1625b.
With the results of this research, it is possible that exomonths are not located around these two exoplanets. However, there is still a chance of exomoons being present on other exoplanets considering that outer space is still too vast to explore.
Tag: nasa month
2023-12-09 11:16:00
#Kepler1625b #Kepler1708b #believed #exomoons
